fatherphil

not really but the fact is i would hate to rely on those two approaches as a truly effective means of preventing pregnancy. perhaps greater importance should be given to an abstinance leg of the educational program.

at the same time, i think that the prevention of unwanted pregnancy should be at the top of the list for both the pro and anti abortion supporters.

Loren Pechtel

Abstinence doesn't work, contraception does.

dk

And could you please provide the evidence, or is your position that dogma suffices.

Prior to 1960 most children were raised by their biological parents. In 1962 the pill came online. By the early 1970s abortion was legalized by the courts in a landmark decision pressed by 10s of thousands of pregnant coeds. The hard cold fact remains, If contraception worked then there'd be no need for an abortion industry.

Obviously abortion is necessary to women because contraceptives don't work. The argument is a house of cards.

dk

Sex education has been around in the US for over 30 years. PP and SIECUS have received 10s of $Billions to develop the curriculum. Surely there must be some evidence to confirm such a dogmatic statement. I suppose I'm being overly optimistic but shouldn't pregnacy rates drop. What's really strange is that pregnancy rates only dropped after abstinence programs came online in the 1990s.

brighid

Dk,

Over the past thirty years unwanted pregnancy has been on a steady decline. Unfortunately, depsite the money spent over the years conservative and pro-life groups do all they can to hamper and curtail that education. Many schools don't allow a complete or thorough sexual education cirriculum to be taught to their children.

Birth control works when used properly. Failing to take ones pills on time, or missing a day here and there WILL provide a female with the opportunity to get pregnant, but when taken consistently and in conjunction with other forms of birth control (such as a condom, etc.) I can at least say that I have not had a pregnancy scare in 10 years of sexual activity (except when I failed to take my pill properly.) Every woman I know that uses birth control responsibly ( their partner with condom usage) haven't had to deal with unwanted pregnancies. This doesn't mean that women will still get pregnant on the pill (for various reasons), but the chances are slim and if her partner is using a condom and spermicide she is VERY unlikely to get pregnant until she wants to.

Sweden and our other European counterparts have already put your argument in the trash with the empirical evidence that thorough sex education for boys and girls, birth control, condom usage, access to abortion and a social system in place that supports the care of families WORKS quite well! Even programs in the US have shown that open and honest discussions and education about sex are more effective then pushing abstinence and allowing teens to be ignorant of how their body works, etc. Abstinence only programs don't work and the higher rate of pregnancy in the Bible Belt clearly demonstrates that failure because if it did work good, conservative, Christian boys and girls wouldn't be finding themselves pregnant out of wedlock at a higher rate then their European counterparts and using your logic they wouldn't find themselves pregnant ever because the morally superior conservative Christian wouldn't do something like having sex outside of marriage.


Brighid

brighid

Did you read the link I gave you? The teenage pregnancy rate has been on a steady decline since the 1970's and today it is lower then it was in the 70's so yes, I did provide you with evidence ... check out the CDC website as well. Would you care to show some empirical evidence where abstinence only programs by themselves have actually been responsible for the drop in teenage pregnancy?

Brighid

Jennie

One fault of the pill is that not everyone can use it; I got terrible mood swings on the several occasions that I tried it (many brands and formulations). Women who have problems with depression or other mood disorders need to be very careful trying it because it can make these worse. One good reason to keep it prescription in my book. I had to switch to barrier methods.

brighid

I have experienced problems with different pills as well, but I did have great success with Orthotricyclin for many years. Eventually it stopped working for me (after 5 years) and I had problems with about 4 others.

It is valid that some women cannot take the pill and that barrier methods can and do fail (the reason I got pregnant with my son due to sponge failure.)

Brighid

Loren Pechtel

Originally posted by dk
And could you please provide the evidence, or is your position that dogma suffices.

Prior to 1960 most children were raised by their biological parents. In 1962 the pill came online. By the early 1970s abortion was legalized by the courts in a landmark decision pressed by 10s of thousands of pregnant coeds. The hard cold fact remains, If contraception worked then there'd be no need for an abortion industry.

Actually, the number raised by others is a lot higher than it looks at first glance. It's just that such things were hushed up. Now they are open about it.

As for the effectiveness of contraception: You've ignored what I posted about Europe. Proper education = a failure rate only 10% of ours.

Loren Pechtel

There has been stuff called sex education but most of it has not been very good. It's usually gutted into near ineffectiveness. Furthermore, it often has a parental opt-out--which means that a lot of those who need it don't get it.