Abstinence, despite what Jacobsen says
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Paul Ross
Published: September 23, 2008
In reference to Gary Jacobsen’s September 16 column: Why have comprehensive sex education in high schools, when we have self-proclaimed OB/GYN expert Gary Jacobsen running his Planned
Parenthood infomercials in the Potomac News?
For someone who last week dismissed Governor Palin as a drag on the McCain campaign, Jacobsen seems awfully fixated on the lady — and now her family. What a brave attack on a 17-year-old girl
and her mother! My question is — does Jacobsen know that the Palin teenager didn’t use one of Jacobsen’s recommended tools of promiscuity? Was he there as some voyeuristic journalist?
It seems obvious that Jacobsen’s pouty obsession with the Palin family and his two-week running visceral reaction to Palin’s candidacy is based on anger (anger that both Bristol and Sarah Palin chose
life in difficult circumstances) and on fear (fear that the tide is turning against his culture of death). Sixty percent of abortions in this country are procured due to failed contraceptives.
Chastity and abstinence before marriage are the only real solutions to unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases — not heaping latex and abortifacient chemicals on our youth.
PAUL ROSS
Montclair
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Posted by ( Sammy B ) on September 25, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Sorry Phdee, after reading your comment I realize that “pregnancy rate” would be a more clear term that “failure rate.“ Contraceptive efficacy studies do not measure the number of material failures per hundred uses. Typically they will track couples over the course of a year or more of using a particular contraceptive method. The pregnancy rate is the number of couples who conceive over that period. As for how condoms fail, I am not certain. I suppose that a defective one gets out on a rare occasion despite very strict manufacturer quality control, or there is some human error at some point that is not noticed.
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Posted by ( gwenandgary ) on September 25, 2008 at 4:49 pm
phdee: please remember that the word “dysfunctional”, as you use it to talk about the Palin family, is a relative term.
To whom are you comparing the Palin family to when you use it to describe their state of being? Can you justify the use of the word “dysfunctional” in this context? What details of their lives are you privy to that the rest of us are not that make this description in any way accurate?
The continued harping on the subject of the Palin’s daughter Bristol is becoming rather tiresome and irrelevant. This matter has already had its airing in the court of public opinion, and it’s time to let it go. Your harangue has taken on an irrational and hateful tone, as if you were grasping wildly for subject matter with little thought for reason or logic.
I believe you’re an intelligent person with valid opinions and insights to contribute. Please prove it to the rest of us by toning down your rhetoric.
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Posted by ( phdee ) on September 25, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Sammy, you make excellent points. I have one question, however, for anyone. When you say 3% of condoms usage, when used properly, results in a failure causing a pregnancy, do you really believe this? I contend one can have a condom failure and the female still not get pregnant. And I’m curious how a properly used condom fails, resulting in a pregnancy or no pregnancy. Defective product?
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Posted by ( Sammy B ) on September 25, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Phdee, while I find Mr. Ross’s uncited statistic suspect, I would not be surprised if it were true. Thing is though, it actually argues against his point of teaching only abstinence. According to FDA statistics (http://www.fda.gov/Fdac/features/1997/conceptbl.html), male latex condoms, when used correctly and consistently, have a failure rate of 3% (meaning that 3% of women who used them over the course of a year became pregnant). Hormonal methods have failure rates of less than 1% when used correctly and consistently. However, the typical use failure rates are 14% for condoms and as much as 5% for certain hormonal methods. If so many abortions are resulting from failed contraception, it is not because of the contraceptives but because people do not know how to use them and are not using them consistently. And yet people like Mr. Ross actually do not want our youth to learn about them. If the anti-abortion crowd had any sense, they would be the loudest advocates for contraceptive education because that is what will reduce abortions.
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Posted by ( phdee ) on September 25, 2008 at 11:19 am
Mr. Moss qrites: “Sixty percent of abortions in this country are procured due to failed contraceptives.“
How does he know this (He offers no source of information source.)? Does he go around checking through bedroom windows, like a pervert? How would anyone be able to gather such a statistic - think of all the sources needing checks: personal check on contraceptives, checking abortion clinics, interrogations of one’s sexual activities, data collection, etc etc.
Personally, Moss in my opinion is a religious kook and simply mazkes up his own statistics, i.e he tells lies. The data to support his allegation is simply too difficult or impossible to come by.
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Posted by ( Grant Gary Jacobsen ) on September 25, 2008 at 9:59 am
What is all this talk about abortions? I didn’t mention them in my column. I was merely arguing that family planning methods should be taught to 11th- and 12th-grade students. What do you have against birth control pills?
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Posted by ( gwenandgary ) on September 24, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Mr. Ross—
While I agree wholeheartedly with your response to Mr. Jacobsen’s opinion, you must understand these expressions of his don’t deserve the time taken to craft a rebuttal.
phdee: you’ve obviously mastered the ability to use the words “dysfunctional” and “hypocritical” in a manner which is grammatically correct. It would be nice to see you master the ability to use them accurately and truthfully as well.
Enough said.
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Posted by ( raywilliams ) on September 24, 2008 at 10:15 am
While I applaud Mr. Ross on his position of chastity and abstinence, the reality is that teenagers are attracted to the opposite sex. While Republicans often like to point fingers at those with liberal upbringings, residents of poorer neighborhoods or perhaps non-white races, the reality we clearly see is “nice, upper-class” families such as the Palin’s also fall to the lure of the apple. So when Ms. Palin goes on the campaign trail to talk family values, abstinence, abolishment of sex education in schools and the horrors of contraceptives, the average person sees her not as a leader of the cause, but as a parent who failed her daughter and therefore lacks the credibility to even discuss the subject.
I continue to question whether Ms. Palin is the “real deal” as her supporters would like to believe, or a media-savvy political opportunist her actions clearly expose. While Governor Palin claims to be on the side of law & order while under investigation for abuse of power against an Alaskan trooper, she turns a blind eye towards an adult that committed the statutory rape of her daughter. Clearly, Ms. Palin is not concerned with the young man’s actions and welcomes his participation in her family’s activities as if this behavior is a normal American value.
One can only hope that after this election season, Ms. Palin and her “Dude” will have more time to spend with their two younger daughters and perhaps find an opportunity to instill the values Mr. Ross expresses. I also hope Mr. Ross votes his beliefs and supports the loving family values of Barack Obama.
Alas, I believe Mr. Ross will support the wild adulterous behaviors of John McCain and the openmindedness towards teenage sex of his running mate, Sarah Palin.
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Posted by ( Godsaveus ) on September 24, 2008 at 9:30 am
-A larger question is “How lomg has she been sexually active”?
Pdee are you obsessed whit the sexual live of a regular teenager. What is running in your sick mind?
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Posted by ( jVA ) on September 24, 2008 at 8:55 am
“Chastity and abstinence before marriage are the only real solutions to unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases — not heaping latex and abortifacient chemicals on our youth. “
So true, Paul. So true.
All we need to do is tell teenagers not to have sex. That will definitely work. Because as we all know, teenagers have excellent judgement and always listen to their parents.
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