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From: csdf@mit-vax.UUCP (Charles Forsythe)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: Birth Control
Message-ID: <718@mit-vax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 27-Aug-85 06:59:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-vax.718
Posted: Tue Aug 27 06:59:46 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 29-Aug-85 23:39:12 EDT
Reply-To: csdf@mit-vax.UUCP (Charles Forsythe)
Distribution: net
Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 60

In article <1016@brl-tgr.ARPA> matt@brl-tgr.ARPA (Matthew Rosenblatt ) writes:
>>				 It seems to me that the best way to cut down
>> on unnecessary abortions [is] for everybody to use birth control (you seem
>> to agree).  [CHARLES FORSYTHE]	

>But another way to cut down on unnecessary abortions is to encourage
>abstinence by the young.  If society wants teenagers to abstain from sex,
>society ought to show them, or give them, good reasons for doing so.
>Threats of male exploitation, VD, or hellfire and brimstone won't dissuade
>today's young people.

I wholeheartedly agree. There is, however, one problem you missed. That
is that teenagers (the younger they are, the worse) don't necessarily
listen to reason -- even from people they respect. By definition,
adolescence is the time when a person drags out all the values they grew
up with, evaluates them and then sets down a final decision (thus
follows the relatively stable period between adulthood and the mid-life
crisis).

Reasons for abstinence tend to rely heavily on abstract values. If a
teen is aware of birth control the SMALL risk involved may easily be
outweighed by curiosity, excitement and hormones. If the teen is not
aware of birth control, he or she may not be aware of the risk -- and
that makes things worse!

Arguments for abstinence, besides 100% safety, tend to lie along lines
of "pre-marital sex cheapens the act." To someone who has no concept of
how much "the act" can mean, this statement is meaningless.

>So how about supplementing the "stick" with an effective "carrot":
>"Planned Celibacy," or the Church or Synagogue, or the Government (if
>majority vote approves) can offer a $10,000 cash reward to any person
>who can come to the hospital within a month of turning 18 years old and
>prove that he or she is a virgin.  That's a reason for saying "no" that
>even the girl's eager boyfriend can understand!

I suppose I have to give you credit for trying... but this is entirely
impractical (even if the money were available). It is not as easy as you
think to medically prove virginity. Certainly for males it's impossible.
As for females, while an intact hymen is a guarantee of virginity, a
broken hymen is not necessarily indicative of a non-virgin.

Also, why eighteen? A lot of people continue onto college, so it seems
to me that the average age for marriage should be in the mid-twenties. A
lot of eighteen-year-old come to MIT virgins, but don't even last a week
(there's a reason for that...)
 
I think you're on the right track for that kind of direction, but the
only way I see to succeed is to somehow make "abstinence" really trendy.

It might even work.

-- 
Charles Forsythe
CSDF@MIT-VAX
"We pray to Fred for the Hopelessly Normal
	Have they not suffered enough?"

from _The_Nth_Psalm_ in _The_Book_of_Fred_