Sex Education

"You can't get pregnant unless you like both go at the same time..."  

This was a phrase Charles heard frequently as a teacher in an all girls high school.  Word of mouth became the primary source of sex education for his students.  Their public-schooling had preached to them nothing but abstinence.  So, they turned to each other, believed their boyfriends and operated under completely ridiculous assumptions.  It was no wonder he watched his young freshmen drop out to raise the children they never planned to conceive.  Frequently, he'd confiscate a pregnant student's liter of soda and explain that large amounts of caffeine is unhealthy during pregnancy.  Most of his students did not behave out of rebellion - they were literally never educated, given alternative contraceptive options (besides abstinence), and once they did become pregnant they were never taught the safest and healthiest ways to carry a child to term.

Ann Fessler, author of The Girls Who Went Away, compiles dozens and dozens of interviews with women who conceived during the 50s and 60s - the pre-Roe v. Wade era.  It was startling how similar their stories were to one another - although most were raised in nice, suburban, affluent homes, these girls were never given access to contraception or vital sex education.  They were told to resist their boyfriends' passes, yet when he wouldn't relent and she wound up pregnant, she was the one that carried the massive shame, was ushered in secrecy to a home for unwed mothers (or forced to marry) and strongly encouraged to surrender her baby to adoption.  Most of these women were traumatized for the remainder of their lives, having relinquished a child, as they were told they were unfit for motherhood and would bring even more shame to their family if they kept their baby.  

Fessler (an adoptee) is currently working on a documentary film version of her book and spoke on Pitt's campus Monday.  She also visited my literature class yesterday, and I so very much admire and applaud her efforts to give these women voice, as most have felt forced to keep their "shameful" past a secret.  

However, while Fessler reports on a different era - an era that made birth control virtually impossible to receive and watered down sex education - she emphasizes the fact that we (as a nation) still have a long way to go.  Abstinence only sex education is centered around a myth that young people will follow this suggestion.  Some do.  But 45% of teens under 18 have already had sex - and what happens when they don't know their options? Unplanned pregnancies.  The current administration is proposing a bill that would allow any health care provider, pharmacist, nurse, etc. to refuse to assist with any medical service he or she finds objectionable (see Hillary Clinton and Cecile Richard's Op-Ed).  This ranges from prescribing a monthly packet of birth control pills to performing an abortion.  It is already standard that a doctor can choose not to perform an abortion.  This law would take women's choices and stigmatize them further - equating birth control with abortion.  And, because not all "objectionable" services are clearly defined under this law, any medical professional would have the ability to deny any form of treatment or medication that went against their personal morals or beliefs.  Where do you draw the line?

Having witnessed the consequences of what happens when young girls (and boys for that matter) are not properly educated and given choices (whether that be abstinence or birth control), I'm fearful of reverting even further back toward the days of pre-Roe v. Wade.  In my opinion, we still have quite a long way to go and stepping backwards by allowing women to feel shameful and stigmatized for asking for birth control pills seems to move us in the wrong direction.  Unplanned pregnancy is clearly a traumatic experience (whether the next step involves abortion, adoption or early motherhood) - so why aren't we equipping our young people with education and contraceptive options that would no doubt help parents enter into parenthood when they plan to?