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Should teenagers be given free condoms?

Should teenagers be given free condoms?

  • Of course! They need to have sex safely

    Votes: 47 50.5%

  • No, it only encourages them

    Votes: 23 24.7%

  • Other(Please elaborate)

    Votes: 23 24.7%
  • Total voters
    93
Cephus said:
It's one thing to be compassionate, it's another to be totally consumed by one's emotions. Liberals are way over that line. It's cool if you want to feel, just don't forget to think.
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LOL-----NO, definitely not consumed by my emotions--not these days anyway....I think all the time---I'm a Libra so constantly weighing the pros and cons on every darn issue......:)
 
Sig said:
It only makes sense. If a parent knows, or even suspects their daughter of being sexually active, then they should get them a shot of Depo (or some other long-acting birth control) at a free clinic or even at school.
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I agree but you know what the problem is in many cases? How many Mothers look at their 13 or14 year old and see a young woman standing there?
Not many--they still see their little girl and thoughts that this child could be sexually active doesn't even enter their mind....that is why the schools have to be proactive......
 
Juanita said:
I agree but you know what the problem is in many cases? How many Mothers look at their 13 or14 year old and see a young woman standing there?
Not many--they still see their little girl and thoughts that this child could be sexually active doesn't even enter their mind....that is why the schools have to be proactive......
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I agree because of the reason you posted, however, all hell will break loose because state intervention won't be looked on lightly by a lot of people. I think at those ages ...parents who won't even discuss sex with their kids will be pissed at a public school becoming contraceptive distributors without the parents signing a permission form.
 
Based on what I see here being posted by some, they are saying one of two things...

A) If required to be responsible, people will simply flip a switch and be responsible.

b) Responsible, reshponsible, I don't really don't give a rat's arse. I just don't want to pay a red cent.
 
ksu_aviator said:
What happens when he misses? In our analogy?
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Well then there is a chance a pregnancy might occur. That 2% doesn't necessarily get pregnant. Condoms are not 100% safe they just make 98x less likely there is a chance of pregnancy. Statistics wise that is a extremely almost impossible chance. That is 98x less likely your taxes may have to pay for a teenage pregnancy.
 
RabidAlpaca said:
Compassion is fine and good, and something should be done to help people, but that help being forced at gunpoint from workers who may or may not want it is unethical.

Nothing is free, it all must come from somewhere, so I believe there should be a damn good reason to take someone's money to give it to someone else, and this simply doesn't fit that requirement.
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Actually, I don't care who pays for them--as long as they make them available in schools---put vending machines in the bathrooms if they are,indeed, that cheap...............
 
Mathematician said:
Why do liberals treat being offended or embarrassed like bloody murder? Talk about wanting to be babied. :roll:
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Who is treating it like bloody murder? Geez....get the chip off your shoulder. I was saying that embarrassment will cause kids not to go into a store to buy condoms which can lead to unwanted pregnancies. T
 
Removable Mind said:
I agree because of the reason you posted, however, all hell will break loose because state intervention won't be looked on lightly by a lot of people. I think at those ages ...parents who won't even discuss sex with their kids will be pissed at a public school becoming contraceptive distributors without the parents signing a permission form.
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That's why I agreed that they should have vending machines in school bathrooms....
 
They should only get them if they promise to use them properly and before the use-by date.
 
Juanita said:
Actually, I don't care who pays for them--as long as they make them available in schools---put vending machines in the bathrooms if they are,indeed, that cheap...............
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Good, then why don't YOU use your money, buy as many condoms as you can, and bring them down to the school? Problem solved.
 
davidtaylorjr said:
Disagree, Parents and society have failed, they glorify sex in immoral ways, that is the problem.
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Then parents in every society throughout history have similarly failed, and I don't see why you think that will ever change.
 
ksu_aviator said:
98% effective means 2 out of every 100 times you will get pregnant. Even if you only have sex once a week, you are still getting pregnant every year.
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I think I see where your confusion is coming from now. That's not how statistics on birth control effectiveness work. The numbers given when someone talks about how effective a method of birth control is aren't the chances of getting pregnant after having sex one time. It's the number of couples who use that method who will get pregnant after one year. So that 98% effectiveness doesn't mean that 2 out of every 100 times you have sex you'll get pregnant. It means that if 100 women have sex regularly for a year, 2 of them on average will become pregnant. That's a huge difference. Your assertion that someone is almost guaranteed to get pregnant in a year while using condoms is completely unsupported by any research.

ksu_aviator said:
That's why websites like the one you posted are so dangerous. They give us a false sense of safety. They make us feel as though the magic tube of latex is going to make anything we do ok. The reality is, it is just slowing the frequency of pregnancy. That's it.
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Yes, a condom only lowers the frequency of pregnancy, that's true. But if used properly, it lowers the frequency A LOT. Even though they aren't perfect, condoms are still far better than using no birth control at all.
 
Juanita said:
LOL-----NO, definitely not consumed by my emotions--not these days anyway....I think all the time---I'm a Libra so constantly weighing the pros and cons on every darn issue......:)
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Hey, you almost had me right up until you went for the absurd astrological nonsense. Keep trying though. :)
 
0bserver92 said:
Well then there is a chance a pregnancy might occur. That 2% doesn't necessarily get pregnant. Condoms are not 100% safe they just make 98x less likely there is a chance of pregnancy. Statistics wise that is a extremely almost impossible chance. That is 98x less likely your taxes may have to pay for a teenage pregnancy.
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No, it is not. Statistically it is a near certainty that it will happen.
 
molten_dragon said:
I'm not sure why you keep saying this when it is blatantly false.
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It is not blatantly false. It is mathematics. Ask a fertility specialist, they will tell you that use of condoms and birth control over a five year period should still result in a pregnancy.
 
John Liberty said:
Should teenagers be given free condoms?
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Of course. But only alongside education programs that teach them about the risks and benefits of different methods of contraception and the moral implications of unwanted pregnancy.

When teens are considered mature enough to drive or even to shoot guns, they're without the slightest doubt mature enough to understand the risks of sex and are capable of making informed decisions if provided with the necessary information.

And teaching abstinence is fine; but it should be *additional* to providing teens with information on safe sex, not instead.
 
ksu_aviator said:
It is not blatantly false. It is mathematics. Ask a fertility specialist, they will tell you that use of condoms and birth control over a five year period should still result in a pregnancy.
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If a fertility specialist told you that, then they didn't know what they were talking about. Or, more likely, you misunderstood what it was they were telling you. And your mathematics are off.

The average rate of pregnancy for couples who use condoms is 18 in 100 after one year. After 5 years of using nothing but condoms, that's a 63% chance of pregnancy (1-(.82^5)).
The average rate of pregnancy for couples who use birth control pills is 9 in 100 after one year. After 5 years of using nothing but birth control pills, that's a 37.5% chance of pregnancy (1-(.91^5)).
A couple using both condoms and birth control pills would have a 16 in 1000 (.18*.09 = .0162) chance of pregnancy after one year. After 5 years of using both methods, the chance of pregnancy is roughly 8%.

These are the average failure rates for these kinds of birth control, not the rates for people who actually use them properly every time they have sex. Those numbers would be considerably lower.

For comparison, the chance of pregnancy after a year of regular sex with no method of birth control is 85%. So by using either method of birth control, even imperfectly, you are considerably less likely to have a child after 5 years, than you would be to have a child after one if you used no birth control at all.
 
ksu_aviator said:
98% effective means 2 out of every 100 times you will get pregnant. Even if you only have sex once a week, you are still getting pregnant every year. That's why websites like the one you posted are so dangerous. They give us a false sense of safety. They make us feel as though the magic tube of latex is going to make anything we do ok. The reality is, it is just slowing the frequency of pregnancy. That's it.

Trust me, I was in the same boat you are. I thought for sure that condoms and birth control ended any chance of pregnancy. I got a real smack in the face when my wife and I went to a fertility clinic and they told us what I'm telling you.
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The figures derive from reliable government sources. Properly used birth control pills are .3% effective, with condom use in addition, the chance of pregnancy is miniscule.

You are misunderstanding how the effectiveness figures work, much like a deluded gambler. The odds don't accumulate, they are the same everytime.

Also, we allow and encourage risky behavior by teens routinely including football playing, mountain climbing, sailing etc. We don't simply tell kids not to do these things, we train them on how to do them safely and we provide them with safety equipment. Sex should be handled the same way: without all the superstition, hypocrisy, preaching and misleading scare tactics which are proven to be counter productive.
 
davidtaylorjr said:
Disagree, Parents and society have failed, they glorify sex in immoral ways, that is the problem.
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Its fine to have that opinion, but it is even more immoral to prevent kids from having easy access to the tools for having safer sex, when it has been proven that it will not stop them from doing it anyways. The consequences of such ignorance and self righteousness are deadly.
 
Hard Truth said:
Its fine to have that opinion, but it is even more immoral to prevent kids from having easy access to the tools for having safer sex, when it has been proven that it will not stop them from doing it anyways. The consequences of such ignorance and self righteousness are deadly.
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Not true actually. If kids had to live with consequences, they might actually think twice.
 
Removable Mind said:
I agree because of the reason you posted, however, all hell will break loose because state intervention won't be looked on lightly by a lot of people. I think at those ages ...parents who won't even discuss sex with their kids will be pissed at a public school becoming contraceptive distributors without the parents signing a permission form.
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You are right about how this would play out politically in many places. Unfortunately too many people in the USA are misinformed, superstitious/religious and terrified of sex, especially when it involves their own kids. People need to put aside their fears, look at the statistics and deal with the issue rationally.
 
davidtaylorjr said:
Not true actually. If kids had to live with consequences, they might actually think twice.
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1. If negative consequences are easily prevented, they are not consequences.

2. People who keep prevention techniques from kids are punsihing them because they disapprove of their behavior, not because the consequences are genuine. (since they are preventable)

3. A kid living with some of the potential consequences-unintended pregnancy or AIDS may have their life ruined. To deliberately make negative outcomes more likely for religious reasons is little different from the Taliban's practice of stoning people for having sex.

Would you consider it moral for me to keep safety equipment away from teen mountain climbers because I disapprove of mountain climbing?
 
Hard Truth said:
1. If negative consequences are easily prevented, they are not consequences.

2. People who keep prevention techniques from kids are punsihing them because they disapprove of their behavior, not because the consequences are genuine. (since they are preventable)

3. A kid living with some of the potential consequences-unintended pregnancy or AIDS may have their life ruined. To deliberately make negative outcomes more likely for religious reasons is little different from the Taliban's practice of stoning people for having sex.

Would you consider it moral for me to keep safety equipment away from teen mountain climbers because I disapprove of mountain climbing?
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It is much more than religious reasons. It has psychological impact on teens who have sex without thinking about it because it seems "fun". And you are correct, it is preventable by absitnence. Good call.
 
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