Wherever the issue has
emerged, whether it is in the inner city schools of America, the primary
schools of Wales, or in health education programs in the developing world, the
suggestion that condoms should be actively promoted as a solution to unwanted
pregnancies has been controversial. This is also the case for using condoms as
a method of preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and the
proliferation of HIV infection. Scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports the
contention that condoms, when properly used, reduce the incidence of these problems.
However numerous critics fear that active encouragement of condom use advances
the onset of sexual activity among young people. In particular, more
conservative religious traditions, as well as religious groups that oppose
contraception, oppose the move to the distribution of condoms in schools out of
fear that basic values of their religions might be undermined in their
children.
As an alternative,
critics of condom distribution advocate abstinence-only education. This variant
of sex education encourages young people to abstain from sexual activity as a
way to avoid pregnancy and disease. Unfortunately, such programs have had mixed
or negative results. In the developed world commercial influences and social
pressures contribute to defiance of abstinence. In developing countries, where
cultures often encourage the development of large families and educational
programs are not as well funded or comprehensive, critics feel the message
lacks impact.
Because this issue has received a great deal of attention in the United
States and the United Kingdom as regards implementation in public schools, the
temptation is to see this topic through only that lens. However, debaters may
just as easily consider broader educational programs instituted by governments
to improve public health and population control. Debaters may also consider
multinational and foreign aid programs designed to control the spread of
sexually transmitted diseases and regulate population growth—all of which could
contain a condom distribution component.
Pros
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Cons
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Condoms are a useful preventative measure. Providing condoms to
students in public education programs will reduce the incidence of underage
pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. If one accepts the
premise that condoms are an effective means of prevention, it stands to
reason that their distribution could have a significant impact.
Condoms are one of the most effective means of
protecting against STIs, HIV and pregnancy. For their cost, they are easily
the most effective means of protecting against these threats.
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Condom use by Children is not a sure fire way of
preventing the harms Proposition have outlined. Condoms can be ineffective,
leading to the spread of STIs and teenage pregnancy.
Britain does have one of the highest rates of Teenage
Pregnancy in the world, yet we see that as more a reflection on the sexual
permissiveness that has been accepted in schools through measures such as the
distribution of condoms in schools. Surely a curriculum that advocated abstinence
would be better, as it ensures that the spread of STIs is stopped and teenage
pregnancy is halted as far as is practicable.
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Condoms empower young girls. Many young girls feel pressured into sex before they
are ready. This pressure is from various sources; friends, boyfriends and the
melange of mixed messages and highly sexualised role models communicated to
them by the media. Girls growing are encouraged to be sexual beings and may
feel they have no control over their own bodies.
Giving girls condoms can do something to stop this. By
educating girls about condom use, girls can be informed about what to do when
they are ready and how to control and react to the pressure to have sex.
Providing access to birth control empowers women with
more control over their bodies. Historically women have often suffered more
because of restrictive policies related to reproduction (abortion laws,
restrictions on birth control purchases, parental consent policies). Men
often do not have to face the consequences of their actions. Condom
distribution encourages the responsibility of men and increases choices for
women. It can also establish condom use as the norm, not something that women
continually have to negotiate, often from a position of weakness.
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Girls who feel pressured into sex will feel even more
so if given condoms to them by their teacher. Children see teachers as
figures of authority, and can easily take the message that having sex so
young is a good thing, causing the problems that Proposition want to prevent.
Boys can still feel free to bully girls into having sex
with a condom, especially now that they have been given them by their school.
Girls will not be given any extra power to say no by having a condom on their
person.
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Condoms have a role in sex education. As highlighted earlier, Condom Distribution can counter
harms such as STIs and Teenage Pregnancy. It also can provide an educational
benefit. By providing teenagers with frank, straightforward information about
both sex and condoms young people will
be much more likely to understand when they are ready to have sex. They will
also be much more confident in rejecting unwanted advances and avoiding
reckless or risky sexual encounters.
This policy will reduce the harms that are associated
with a lack of sex education – Not
just in terms of STIs and pregnancy, but also misinformation and ignorance.
Increasing numbers of teenagers are learning about sex
via inaccurate and misleading portrayals of sexual activity (lad’s mugs,
porn, television and film). Better to give teenagers the full facts about sex
rather than obscuring it from them, causing them to be misinformed.
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Education about sex simply promotes it as something
pleasurable and risk-free, without fully communicating its potential to cause
harm. Giving children condoms further promotes sex without full consideration
for its harms. Children may get poor information about sex, but giving
children condoms only exacerbates the problem. Condom distribution tells
children that sex is something that should be done, obscuring the serious
message at the heart of sex education. This makes attempts to cut through the
cacophony of noise in popular culture that pressures children into sex more
difficult.
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Neither of these assertions is actually true. The aim
of sex education is to inform teenagers dispassionately about sex; its
responsibilities, dangers and practicalities. Providing condoms to students
is the morally pragmatic thing to do. Educators need not endorse sexual
activity, but they are also unable to prevent naïve or determined students
from experimenting with sex. However, educators can encourage students to
make wise choices if they find themselves involved in some form of sexual
interaction. Such an approach is wise because it accepts the inevitability
that some young people, regardless of the strength of an abstinence message,
will still have sex.
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Handing out condoms encourages early sexuality. Condom Provision in Schools encourages children to be
sexually active before their time. Children look up to their teachers to be
authority figures and by giving them condoms; teachers implicitly allow
underage sex amongst their pupils.
Providing students with condoms actually encourages the
earlier onset of sexual activity. Teens who have comprehensive sexuality
education can have up to a 50% higher chance of sexual activity than those
who have not had the courses. If young people believe they will be “safe”
when using a condom they are much less likely to be deterred from engaging in
dangerous and illegal behaviour.
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It should not be up to states to pander to the whims of
those whose religious convictions are increasingly out of step with modern
society. It would be wrong to deprive children from the benefits of an
education in something that will affect them for the rest of their lives.
Putting religious parents in control of their
children’s sexual education would be a recipe for disaster, placing the
selfish aims of parental control (particularly in relation to young girls)
ahead of making sure the child is notified and protected from the harms that
come from unprotected sex.
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Handing out condoms is being insensitive towards religious
students. Presenting
condoms to students in a publicly funded environment has the potential to
offend an alienate members of a wide range of religious groups. Catholics and
followers of other religions who do not believe in birth control and orthodox
practitioners of a number of the world’s religions find the apparent
encouragement of sexual activity an affront to their religious traditions.
It is surely best to allow parents to make decisions
regarding the sexual education of their children at their own discretion. The
integration of secular society and coherent religious communities rests on
the state’s willingness to allow parents to educate their children in a
manner consistent with their beliefs. Obliging teachers to distribute condoms
to the children of Catholic or orthodox Jewish families will only undermine
this objective and the secular credentials of the state education system.
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Providing condoms to students is a wise investment of
government funds. A fortune is spent by world governments each year
addressing the public health problems created by risky sexual behaviour. The
cost of raising the many children created through unintended pregnancies over
a lifetime can be immense. The cost of treating a patient with HIV can be
enormous.
While it is also beneficial to prevent the problems
outlined by Opposition, diverting spending from Condom Provision will not
solve this. Opposition also grossly stereotypes the lifestyles of those who
have underage sex, not all of them are from broken homes. Educating teenagers
about sex will help them, no matter what background. Anyway, the cost of
condom provision is very low in the grand scheme of things.
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Handing out condoms is a waste of taxpayer's money. In 2002 Federal and State governments in the United States
spent $653 million on contraceptive programs for teens. Taxpayers should not
have to support programs that they find morally objectionable, even if there
seem to be pragmatic justifications for the action. Moreover, if overall
sexual activity increases as the result of encouraging "safer sex",
the number of people occasionally engaging in risky behaviour will increase
and the risk of these problems spreading will increase with it. The increased
frequency with which teenagers and young people choose to engage in sex will
increase the incidence of teenage pregnancy and STI transmission. This will
then offset any reduction in the numbers of teens currently falling pregnant
or suffering from sex infections.
Surely it is better to put money into measures than can
prevent teenage pregnancy by looking at the problems of welfare dependency,
family breakdown and poor educational attainment that usually link those who
have sex early. Distributing condoms facilitates early sex, only making the
attendant problems worse.
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