News & Articles
Young people need facts on birth control
May 5, 2008
Young people need facts on birth control
Abstinence is a valid and important option that should be presented to youth as part of their education. However, limiting information to abstinence only does nothing to promote the health and well-being of what should be a well-informed citizenry.
Federally sponsored abstinence-only programs restrict and distort information about condoms, an effective method for protecting against sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
Yet abstinence-only programs have caused young people to be less confident about that fact, which is disastrous to those South Carolinians who have at hand a simple and inexpensive way to prevent such health- and life-threatening infections.
The programs also restrict information about contraceptives in general. These restrictions equal censorship, which should be unacceptable in a modern democracy.
The majority (81 percent) of South Carolina's registered voters agree that both abstinence and contraception should be presented in schools. Young people have a right to accurate and complete information about their health, their bodies and the tools available to them in today's world.
To give them any less is a true disservice to their intelligence, their rights and their lives.
DEBORAH BILLINGS
Columbia