Spread the Word
Witness for Justice
October 22, 2007 – Ann L. Hanson
We live in a society of many cultures that is deeply conflicted about human sexuality. The daily images and messages we receive influence how we see ourselves, how we act, and how we relate to others as human beings in the fullest sense.
By far, the majority of Americans feel that providing up-to-date, medically-accurate, and age appropriate information about sexuality provides people of all ages with the knowledge they need in order to act responsibly. However, during the past 10 years, the only sexuality education programs funded by our government (called abstinence-only-until marriage) are programs that may not contain up-to-date and medically-accurate information.
At the present time Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) have offered a common-sense medical accuracy amendment to the Fiscal Year 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. This amendment would require that any abstinence-only-until-marriage programs receiving federal funds must contain only medically accurate information. It will be interesting to see how many US Senators vote against providing medically accurate information to our youth.
Most all parents and guardians hope their children will not become sexually active until they approach adulthood. Nearly 70 percent of all young people, however, have had sex by age 18. Most do not want to be involved in a pregnancy or to become a parent at such an early age. However, 800,000 teens still experience a pregnancy each year and 85 percent of these pregnancies are unintended. Many teens and adult women are not aware of a medication that, if used up to 120 hours after unprotected sex, would reduce the chance of a pregnancy by approximately 80 to 85 percent.
Emergency contraception (EC) is a method of preventing pregnancy after sexual intercourse. It is an important contraceptive option that could annually prevent at least 50 percent of unintended pregnancies and experts estimate that timely use of EC could prevent up to 70 percent of abortions. More than 70 organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, Society for Adolescent Medicine, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and American Medical Association assert that EC is entirely safe to use.
EC contraception prevents pregnancy. It does not cause abortion and does not affect an established pregnancy. Moreover, there is no evidence that emergency contraception inhibits fertilization, prevents implantation of a fertilized egg, or affects a fertilized egg in any way, even before implantation.
Emergency contraception is a responsible option for responsible women. Many women seek EC after being sexually assaulted. These women have no opportunity to use contraception before the assault. Today, many hospitals do not inform assault victims of the availability of EC. Connecticut's Roman Catholic bishops have recently changed course and agreed to administer emergency contraception to all rape victims at Catholic hospitals just days before a new state law requiring them to do so takes effect.
Many people do not know about the availability of emergency contraception. Women and men both need responsible education about sexuality, birth control and sexually transmitted diseases – and this includes complete information about EC. No woman can be completely free unless she has control over her reproductive health.
Help spread the word!
(Adapted with permission from Advocates for Youth, Washington, DC. www.advocatesforyouth
