Like every other man-made device, contraceptives fail-even when used perfectly correctly. But they generally are not used perfectly. As contraceptive use increases, those failure rates translate into more unintended pregnancies. This is an empirically-demonstrated fact; visit http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/17/studies-birth-control-contraception-dont-cut-abortions/ to learn more.
Less-known, but vitally important, is the connection between contraception and HIV. From a report published in April 2010: "More than 50 medical studies, to date, have investigated the association of hormonal contraceptive use and HIV/AIDS infection. The studies show that hormonal contraceptives—the oral pill and Depo-Provera—increase almost all known risk factors for HIV, from upping a woman’s risk of infection, to increasing the replication of the HIV virus, to speeding the debilitating and deadly progression of the disease."
When I first read about this, I hoped it wasn't true, so I contacted a leading HIV researcher who I have come to know. He has been involved in HIV research since the early days. He told me that "a link between hormonal contraception and increased risk of contracting HIV emerged in the EARLIEST studies of HIV risk factors... Usually, those early studies offered no interpretation of the associations that they were finding ...and then, even the association itself stopped being reported." He says the reason was that so many of the early HIV researchers like himself had been heavily involved in promoting contraceptives and no one likes to publically say that their previous advice was bad.
The last thing teenage Swazi girls need at this time is a pill that makes them more susceptible to HIV. Read the full report at http://catholicexchange.com/2010/04/26/129702/
So if the technologically-driven pharmaceutical approach to curbing teenage pregnancy won't work, what will?
Let fathers and mothers train their children in chastity. Let us teach, by example and word, the value of saving one's sexual debut for the wedding night. As a boy or girl grows from childhood through adolescence to full maturity, the discipline and character they develop through channeling their energies away from sexual activity and into life-enhancing activities (school, sports, helping at home and in the community, etc.) will profit them greatly when they do get married. Fathers and mothers need to walk their children through those difficult years of puberty; doing so will not only help our children for the rest of their lives, it will cause our hearts to swell with pride when we see them living upright, meaningful, fulfilling, happy lives.
Ultimately, a young man and woman who save themselves for each other on their wedding night can look forward to a lifetime of disease-free, worry-free sex. Let us not short-change and insult our youth by telling them they can't wait until marriage for sex. With our help they CAN wait, and they can fill that waiting period with healthy and character-building activity that will help them have great marriages. The last line of Friday's article had it exactly right: "The word 'NO' works wonders and saves lives to the present day". That NO to premarital sex opens the doors to many YES replies to good things before marriage, and to a life-long, dream-fulfilling "I do" to a husband or wife at the altar. Swazi youth deserve as much.
Rudy Poglitsh
rpoglitsh@live.com
more letters at http://letterstotheTOS.blogspot.com
