LETTER: Don’t preach to me

Editor,

STDs and unwanted pregnancies run rampant. Apparently, “abstinence education” isn’t working. We can preach to people all we want about how they should stay abstinent, and if they want to have sex, they will still have sex.

We’re in a new era now, and we need to update ourselves to the times. There is a very easy and very cheap way to prevent both STDs and unwanted pregnancies without abortion. The Student Health Center gives away free condoms to anyone who wants one. Armed with condoms, one could conceivably have sex with everyone on campus and none of these encounters would end in an STD or a pregnancy.

It’s as simple as that. If two or more consenting, unmarried adults wish to have sex, then by all means, they should do so, as long as they do so safely. All that needs to be done about this issue is educate young people about what methods of birth control and STD prevention are available.

If we continue preaching abstinence and nothing else, teenagers will continue having sex, STDs will continue to run rampant, and many unwanted pregnancies will result. On Wednesday, Nathan Smith said, “What a relief to know that our daughter is a legitimate child … and that means a lot, no matter what age or era you live in.”

To him, I would like to say quit insulting my best friend. My best friend was born out of wedlock. She looks likes any other normal human being, she speaks normally. She attends the university like all of us. I can’t imagine what possible difference her being born out of wedlock made.

When it comes down to it, the only real reasons for abstaining until marriage are personal and religious reasons. In other words, if you want to abstain, more power to you. If you don’t want to abstain, have fun, but be safe. But stop preaching to me what I should do and what choices I should make. They are my choices.

Kyle G. Sessions