Abstract

Is the Pope Crazy?

This article focuses on the use of condoms as a form of birth control There are many things to be said against condoms, and most people reading this have probably said them all. Not perfectly -- they slip, they break, they require more forethought and finesse and cooperation and trust than is easy to bring to sex every single time, and, a major drawback in this fallen world, they place women's safety in the hands of men. These days, the experts on condoms are politicians, preachers and priests, and the Word from above is: Condoms don't work. That is what students are being taught in the abstinence-only sex ed favored by the religious right and funded by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush -- $117 million of your annual tax dollars at work. The theory is that even mentioning condoms, much less admitting that they dramatically reduce the chances of pregnancy or HIV infection, sends a "mixed message" about the value of total abstinence until marriage. According to a 2002 Human Rights Watch report on abstinence-only sex ed in Texas, a condoms-don't-work ad campaign led sexually active teens to have unprotected sex. In Africa, where HIV infects millions -- 20 percent in Kenya, 40 percent in Botswana, 34 percent in Zimbabwe -- Catholic clergy, who oppose condoms as they do all contraception, are actively promoting the myth that condoms don't prevent transmission of the virus and may even spread it.