What all Girls Should Know before Having Sex

Rachel Allison

Dr. Miriam Grossman, M.D. worked at a campus counseling center for more than 10 years.  The young women who came to her were in crisis. They were “working hard to fulfill their dreams:  a college education, maybe grad school, a great career, and—at some point—a home, husband, and kids.”  But they come to her office in tears because of struggles and setbacks caused by decisions and regrets. “She’s already involved with the wrong guy, or infected with genital warts or herpes.  She’s already lost a great relationship, missed an opportunity, or failed a midterm.  I’m her doctor, but all I can do is sit there, listen, and hand her tissues.”

Dr. Grossman’s book “Unprotected” should be a must read for every teenager in the United States, Canada, England, France…ok, the world. But until parents and youth leaders can get them their must read copy, here are a few things Dr. Grossman has prepared for young women to read before the regrets begin …information young girls should know before sexual intimacy.

1.  Intimacy promotes attachment and trust.

Intimate behavior floods your brain with a chemical that fuels attachment. Cuddling, kissing, and sexual contact release oxytocin, a hormone that announces: “I’m with someone special now. Time to switch love on, and caution off.  When oxytocin levels are high, you’re more likely to overlook your partner’s faults and take risks you otherwise wouldn’t…

When it comes to sex, oxytocin, like alcohol, turns red lights green.  It plays a major role in what’s called “the biochemistry of attachment.”  Because of it, you could develop feelings for a guy whose last intention is to bond with you. You might think of him all day, but he can’t remember your name.

2.  Science confirms:  alcohol makes him hot…when he’s not.

Science has confirmed the existence of “beer goggles”—when a person seems more attractive to you after you’ve had a few drinks….Drinking affects the nucleus accumbens, the area of the brain used to determine facial attractiveness.  It’s probably one of several reasons that casual, high-risk sex is often preceded by alcohol consumption.

3.  A hook-up usually leads to regret.

A recent study of  the hook-up culture at Princeton University reveals:  Before the hook-up, girls expect emotional involvement almost twice as often as guys; 34% hope “a relationship might evolve.”  Guys, more than girls, are in part motivated by hopes of improving their social reputation, or of bragging about their exploits to friends the next day.

After the hook-up: 91% of girls admit to having feelings of regret, at least occasionally.  Guilt and ‘feeling used’ are commonly cited, and overall, 80% of girls wish the hook-up hadn’t happened. Other studies have shown: 84% of women said that after having sex a few times, …they begin to feel vulnerable and would at least like to know if the other person cares about them.

As the number of casual sex partners increased, so did signs of depression in college women.  49% of students whose hook-up included intercourse never see one another again, and less than 10% of “friends with benefits” develop into romances.

4.  A younger cervix is more vulnerable to infection.

Your cervix, the entrance to your uterus, has a vulnerable area one cell thick, called the transformation zone. It’s easy for HPV (the human papillomavirus, which can cause genital warts, and even cervical cancer) to settle there. That’s why most teen girls are infected from one of their first sexual partners.  By adulthood the transformation zone is replaced with a thicker, tougher surface.  So it’s wise to delay sexual activity, or, if you’ve already started, to stop.

Even though these infections are common, and usually disappear with time, learning you have one can be devastating. Natural reactions are shock, anger, and confusion. “Who did I get this from, and when? Was he unfaithful? Who should I tell?” and hardest of all: “Who will want me now?”

These concerns can affect your mood, concentration, and sleep.  They can deal a serious blow to your self-esteem…and to your GPA.

The HPV vaccine is a major achievement, but the protection it provides is limited.  You are still vulnerable to other infections like herpes, Chlamydia, HIV, and non-covered strains of HPV.  And of course no vaccine prevents a broken heart.

5.  He may not know he has HPV or herpes.

Most guys who have a sexually transmitted infection don’t know it….it’s easiest to transmit herpes or HPV when warts or sores are present, but it can also happen at other times, when everything looks OK. Condoms only reduce the risk by 60-70%.

6.  The rectum is an exit, not an entrance.

And about those other sexual activities…

Having more than five oral-sex partners has been associated with throat cancer. Turns out that HPV can cause malignant tumors in the throat, just like it does in the cervix.

In a study of sexually active college men, HPV was found both where you’d expect—the genital area—and where you wouldn’t: under fingernails.  Yes, you read that right.  Researchers now speculate whether the virus can be shared during activities considered “safe,” like mutual masturbation.

According to the Centers for disease Control, approximately 30% of all women will have had anal intercourse by the age of 24.  Even with condoms, this behavior places them at increased risk of infection with HIV and other STDs.  For example, the risk of HIV transmission during anal intercourse is at least 20 times higher than with vaginal intercourse.

The government website, www.fda.gov, provides no-nonsense advise about avoiding HIV:  “Condoms provide some protection, but anal intercourse is simply too dangerous to practice.”

The rectum is an exit, not an entrance.  Anal penetration is hazardous.  Don’t do it.

“Young women are bombarded with the message: “Exploring and experimenting—as long as you’re “protected”—can be safe, satisfying, and beneficial.”

“Don’t fall for it.  It’s easy to forget, but the characters on Grey’s Anatomy and Sex in the City are not real.  In real life, Meredith and Carrie would have warts or herpes.  They’d likely be on Prozac or Zoloft.  Today a woman cannot have so many partners with paying a price….We’re fighting a horde of bugs, and the bugs are winning.  It’s no longer enough to communicate with your “partners,” get tested, and use condoms.”

“Any genital contact with another person is a serious matter. A single encounter can have life-long consequences, especially for a woman. That’s not sexist, that’s biology—your biology. Ignorance or denial of this fact will only increase your vulnerability.”

“You’re in control, it’s all in your hands.  The distress that often follows casual sex is 100% preventable.  Life may throw you some curve balls, but STDs, and encounters you’d rather forget, are burdens that you can avoid.”

“Listen to the lesson of hard science:  It’s wise to be very, very careful about who you allow to get intimately close to you.”

Dr. Grossman concludes:  “I believe in you.  And I don’t want to see you in my office.  Now go pursue your dreams.”

This information was taken from the booklet, Sense & Sexuality, prepared by Dr. Miriam Grossman for college coeds.

Five Reasons to be a Single Parent? Give me a Break!

Rachel Allison

My children are pretty savvy…at least their mother thinks so.  However, periodically one or another will surprise me with a statement that proves that he’s not as “in the know” as he should be.  By sighting a few statistics or studies, my child has learned to verbally back off the issue until further investigation.

Where is Kerry Zane’s mother? Kerry Zane is an Emmy Award-winning television producer who wrote an article in the Huffington Post entitled “5 Reasons It’s Better to be a Single Parent.”  Unbelievably the Huffington Post published it.  Why unbelievably?  Because any reader who has studied family issues knows that Ms. Zane’s article is totally self serving and full of error. The HP is now the “clock that struck 13,”  casting doubt over all previous and future articles.

Ms. Zane’s reasons?

1.  “I no longer have to negotiate with a husband. “ I now get to make all the decisions “which in the long run is better for [my] offspring’s well-being.”

2.  “Stellar Independent Role Model:” (check out her #4 reason to see if #2 makes any sense at all.) Her daughters can see that she is a “completely whole and independent adult, and they will emulate her healthy behaviors.”  (Again, check out her #4.)

3. “Since society is shifting away from bonds of matrimony,” her children will be “enlightened and possibly relieved that they are no longer tied to that traditional lifestyle…Long-term relationships without wedding bands can be stronger.” (LOL)

4.  “Bed sharing not required:  Married couples may have more sex, but it isn’t nearly as much fun.  While they constantly have to “spice it up” in the bedroom, the nature of being single and switching partners does all the cooking for us.  We tease, experiment, and explore the bawdy awareness of every new lover.  Men and women, make the sex hotter during the first two years of a relationship. “ (Uh, is that a two year long-term relationship without wedding bands that can be stronger?  Why did she limit the “hot sex” to two years?  Is that when the guy or gal move on?)

5.  “Building a better body:  Marriages are like your freshman year in college.  You have the tendency to pack on the pounds.  One study found that women could gain five to eight pounds in the first few years of their wedded bliss and a whopping 54 pounds by the ten-year mark, while their single counterparts stay slim.  Most of us have an overriding desire to want to be attractive to prospective mates of the opposite sex.  The result of a divorce?  A slimmer, trimmer you—aka the divorce Diet.”  (It’s still all about #4)

Statistics from SingleParentSuccess.org

• In 1995, nearly six of 10 children living with mothers only were near the poverty line. About 45 percent of children raised by divorced mothers and 69 percent by never-married mothers lived in or near poverty, which was $13,003 for a family of three in 1998. Census Brief CENBR/97-1, Bureau of the Census www.census.gov, September 1997.
• 75% of children/adolescents in chemical dependency hospitals are from single-parent families. (Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA)
• 63% of suicides are individuals from single parent families (FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin – Investigative Aid)
• 75% of teenage pregnancies are adolescents from single parent homes (Children in need: Investment Strategies…Committee for Economic Development)
• Based on the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS) results of married couples’ sexual activities, women generally seem happier with their sex lives than we would think; Although married women have sex less frequently, they are more likely to derive physical and emotional satisfaction from sex, than women in dating relationships.

I’m a 60 years old  wife, mother and grandmother. I certainly don’t pretend to be all knowing, but I can see Ms. Zane’s article for what it is… narcissistic, selfish, un-researched nonsense.  What upsets me most is that the HP’s younger readers may actually fall for all her worthless baloney.  Does anyone know Kerry Zane’s mother?

SEX – SHOULD YOU WAIT?

Maddi Gillel

“If couples have sex, do you think this will strengthen the engagement, or will it maybe tend to tear it apart?  Findings show that two times as many rings are returned when the couples have had intercourse, and the more frequent the intercourse, the greater the chance of the ring going back.”  Dr. Robert Blood, “Marriage” – University of Michigan, 1962

Dr. Blood has a collection of 250 studies about this subject – and he came to some major conclusions:

1 Pre-marital intercourse is associated more clearly with broken relationships than with strengthened ones.

2- He found that divorce is more common among couples who have had pre-marital intercourse.

3- Adultery is also more common.

4- Marital unhappiness was also found to be higher among those couples who had not waited for intimate sex until marriage.

When a person equates something as important as sex with ‘the forbidden’ and the ‘exciting’, and all this is BEFORE marriage, things change dramatically after marriage. This same couple, now married, can seem less desirable to each other.  (That is usually the reason marriages end in the first year.)  The relationship is also not as relaxed, comfortable and happy.

Men and women view sex differently.  Girls and young women know everything about love and nothing about sex.  Boys and young men know everything about sex and nothing about love.  Girls give sex to get love, and boys give love to get sex.  It takes years in a marriage to finally understand both sex and love equally.  Pre-marital sex slows down the progress of this understanding.

There is a double standard in our culture for men and women. Men are pretty disrespectful of a woman with whom they have had their way.  Women are called everything from slut to whore.  Men, on the other hand, figuratively receive badges of manliness, potency, sexiness, and physical attraction.

Two people who are dating and involved sexually, do not have enough conversation!  You can’t talk while you’re kissing and beyond. Marriage requires a great deal of knowledge of each other’s likes, dislikes, values, goals, philosophies, plans, etc.  Sex is the easy part of a relationship, so, why not do the difficult part first, namely, get to know him/her and be sure you’re a good match for marriage.

“Living together can’t work when it breeds the mutual dependency of marriage without the mutual responsibility.”  (Louise Montague –“Straight Talk About the Living- Together Arrangement”)

“Probably the greatest single hazard of the [sex before marriage] is that it can actually spoil a good relationship between two people who should eventually marry.  Because it is entered into out of weakness rather than strength, doubt rather than conviction, drift rather than decision, it offers unnecessary obstacles. Knowing this, you shouldn’t casually toss aside those inherited institutions that have had a history of success.” (Montague)

Yes, you SHOULD wait !

Education: Third Cycle, Is there Hope?

Maddi Gillel

Editor’s note:  This is the third in a series on education.  To see “The High Water Mark,” go here, the second article, “The Nose Dive,” is here.

The value of the second cycle is that many have learned the hard way what works to make a country strong, healthy, prosperous, safe, and independent  in every way.

In his book Back to Basics: The Traditionalist Movement That is Sweeping Grassroots America, Burton Yale Pines expressed the yearning of the vast majority of Americans to get America back on track.  There is a call for reform in many areas:

1-     A revival of quality education by the national  commission (A Nation at Risk: The  Imperative for Educational Reform)

2-     A return to the free- market system with less intervention by government so that millions of new jobs can be created.

3-     A restoration of moral and spiritual values in both private and public life.

4-     A reduction in taxes; federal, state, and local.

5-     Paying off the national debt.

6-     Turning public welfare programs into workfare, education, and job-creating opportunities instead of allowing millions of Americans to become permanently trapped on the poverty level.

( Burton Yale Pines)

There are many in our  society who are doing what they can to resist that which weakens our country and encourage that which makes our country strong and free once again.  There are websites that are forwarded  to thousands to keep others aware of the news of the day; there are blogs such as this one, to encourage strong families, financial responsibility, and a return to values;  many more of our representatives understand and uphold the constitution and know how this country should be governed; many families have remained sufficiently intact that they have been raised by parents and grandparents who lived during the high water mark of our society; technological knowledge is at an all- time high, which has its downside, but the upside is that more can stay abreast of advancements in every aspect of our society –law, medicine, marketing, agriculture, retailing, engineering, education, political science, etc.

Many parents recognize the weakness of the education system and choose to home school their children- and this has been going on for quite some time.  Those children are in turn growing up, getting married, and home schooling their own children.

A College/University education was at one time,  thought to be the only way to make a good living, but many are choosing the trades (plumbing, electricity, carpentry, masonry,)  which  is  less expensive, takes less time, and will afford an ability to provide for one’s family ( of course keeping a strong work ethic in mind).  Keep in mind, that one can do a lot of reading and studying about any subject on earth in his own spare time and become an ‘educated’ person – there is formal education and informal education and a truly ‘educated’ person depends on his own volition.

There are an increasing number who are becoming more aware of the democratic process and are staying in contact with their representatives – through technology.  We can even sign petitions ‘on line.’

More reporters and journalists and radio hosts are choosing to be independent of ‘political correctness’ and can thusly keep their readers/listeners  apprised of what the real story is, as opposed to sticking to the talking points-‘ business as usual.’

To sum up, it is no mystery why billions are poured into education.  The ‘powers- that- be’ know that they have got to protect this institution. They can then do as they wish so children are raised to think along the lines of:  indifference to education (reading, writing, and math) socialism, religious and moral apathy, subjection to outrageous behavior from others (bullying, assault, profanity, vulgarity, negative peer pressure, etc.) and a lack of understanding and appreciation of the constitution.

Once again, and as usual, the home is crucial in teaching our children values, reading, math, writing, citizenship, financial responsibility, and family stability.

There is hope.

Education- Phase 2 The Nose Dive

Maddi Gillel

Editor’s note:  This is the second in a series on education.  To see “The High Water Mark,” go here.

The second phase began around 1887.  There were those who wanted to experiment with ideas to make changes in the system:

1-The populist movement demanded that the federal government use income taxes to confiscate some of the property of the rich and redistribute it among the lower economic classes

2-  Industrial and financial leaders  wanted to influence the federal government to forcefully regulate our economy and limit competition at home and abroad.

3-  A group of political leaders and economists wanted to try the theories of socialism (which means government  ownership and control of production and distribution).

4-   Leading intellectuals rejected the spiritual and moral foundation of the American formula and wanted it eliminated from education.

The Founders had pronounced all of these ideas formulas for failure and warned of their destruction to the American system.  These 4 ‘experiments’ began to infiltrate  every aspect of our  society, and serious erosion began.

Five independent studies by leading educators across the country began calling for a return to basics.   A report from the National Commission on Excellence in Education declared: “The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.”  (US Department of Education, “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform”)

The commission found serious danger signals, such as:

“Over 3 million American adults were functionally illiterate by the simplest tests of everyday reading, writing, and comprehension.

About 13 percent of all 17 year olds in the US could be considered functionally illiterate.

Between 1975 and 1980, remedial math in public 4-year colleges increased by 72 percent .

Business and military leaders were required to spend millions of dollars on costly remedial education and training programs  for reading, writing, spelling and computation. “

During the 2^nd cycle, the moral and social quality of our culture was in serious decline. White collar crime skyrocketed;   divorce became far more common; more babies in gestation were destroyed by abortion than were born alive; promiscuous sexuality among the youth created  a wave of unwed mothers and illegitimate children, and the social destabilization which results from these problems; sexual depravity in some of its most bizarre forms began to be widespread; filthy speech was promoted in the name of free speech (4 letter words had become prominent in routine conversations of many); First Amendment rights were used as a license for the sale, distribution and broadcasting of pornography; obscenity was the principal attraction for commercial exploitation in books, magazines, films, and television shows; drugs became a plague on the nation.

A strong drive to completely secularize all phases of public education was begun. The Supreme Court eliminated prayer and Bible reading from the schools. The teaching of morality and spiritual values were eliminated from the schools. Stories with moral lessons (which were so popular in the McGuffey Readers) disappeared from textbooks.

There was much less emphasis on patriotism or any firm commitment to the Constitution or the Founders’ formula for prosperity.  Volumes were written about the Founding Fathers which leveled serious accusations against their reputation and character.  Researchers are now finding these stories to be myths and of recent invention.

A powerful federal government began to replace local government.  The shift of power from the states to the central government involved numerous violations of the Constitution.

There was a shift from a free-market economy (capitalism) to a highly regulated economy (another violation of the Constitution).

During this time – against the Monroe Doctrine –  the U.S. entered into entangling alliances and began meddling in the affairs of nearly every nation on earth. Hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ dollars were spent (and the objectives of this meddling were not even met).

The U.S. went from virtually no national debt, to the biggest national debt in history, and more than all other countries’ debts combined

Our soldiers were ordered to fight in undeclared wars such as Korea and Vietnam (prohibited by Article 1 section 8 of the Constitution).

The Supreme Court began issuing mandates and decrees which unlawfully amended the provisions of the Constitution.

The executive branch began issuing thousands of executive orders each year which were enforced by the courts as federal laws (Article 1 section 1 states that Americans were not to be subject to any laws which had not been approved by Congress).

The nation – without a Constitutional amendment- was taken off the gold and silver standard.

There are too many in our society that believe the way things are now is the way they have always been and should always be.  But, how is it all working for us? I would say – “not too well.”

With all of these negative experiences emerging from  the  second cycle, it was inevitable that the vast majority of Americans would begin calling for reform – which will take us into phase 3 – next week.

Precious Memories Lost or Created…Parents Choose Wisely

Rachel Allison

Reading Ann Bailey’s article about the studies that have come out against the Federal Government’s Head Start preschool program must be discouraging to those whose intentions may have been positive and even altruistic.  But the years of time and effort and billions of dollars poured into the program have proven a failure.

Who lost out? The innocent children who were used as Guiney pigs to boost the ego of brainstorming government employees who thought that they had devised a program that was better than a mother’s love and the security of home environment. What does a child need and long for more than anything else in the world? Quantity and quality time spent with their mother.

Who else lost out? The mothers who forfeited memories made with their precious pre-schoolers.

You may say, “But it was a program for poor families.”  I remember the families in my hometown who sent their children to Head Start.  The mothers loved their children.  They may have qualified for government assistance, but they were good mothers.  They mistakenly thought they were giving their children an advantage, when in reality they were giving up precious time and memories with their child for a program that failed.  Again, what does a child need and long for more than anything else in the world?  Quantity and quality time spent with their mother.

Can you sense my emotion?  For the past two weeks I have been following through on a New Year’s Resolution.  I have spent hours compiling a memory album of my children.  Each photo represents a precious memory I have with them. Each hour spent on the project has stirred emotions that have brought me close to tears. If I could I would go back in time and do it all again.

Young mothers and fathers…May I emphasize that no one will love and care for your children as well as you.  Love them. Teach them. Spend as much time with them as you possibly can.  Enjoy them, and allow them to enjoy you.  Your memories will create a valuable anchor to your soul that you will cherish more and more as the years advance. Trust me on this one.  I think it may even be a natural law.

THE HIGH WATER MARK IN EDUCATION

Maddi Gillel

“The strict discipline in educational preparation for professional life is described by John Adams.  By the time his son, John Quincy Adams was 18, the youth had become fairly proficient in Latin, French, and Greek.  He had also studied English and French literature, many of the Greek classics, Roman, English, and Greek history, the theorems of Euclid, plane trigonometry, algebra, decimal fractions, geometrical proportions and conic sections.  However, John Adams said his son was a little weak in calculus!”  (Koch, The American Enlightenment, pp. 190-191

What all was going on from 1607 to 1890 that encouraged such a marvelous education in our society?

1-    In 1836, William Holmes McGuffey began publishing his famous McGuffy Readers.  These became national best sellers and soon nearly every child was studying from at least one of them.

2-   Basics in:  Reading – phonics (involved memorizing), Writing – script, which is faster than print and was taught from the first grade – Arithmetic, especially as it applied to business and bookkeeping – Communication – which included spelling, essay writing, declamation, and oratorical contests – Literature- classical and contemporary- McGuffey included an assortment of these, Music – singing or playing an instrument – Art- painting, drawing, sculpture, Nature- study of plant, animal, astronomy – History – especially American history and its Constitutional form of government, Hygiene – mental and physical.

3-   Prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, a brief reading of the Bible, and a song comprised the opening exercises of a school day.

4-   Teachers (and the texts) were to drill into the students the importance of being: trustworthy, loyal (to God, family, and country), obedient (to parents, teachers, and others in authority) friendly, courteous, kind (to all), thrifty, brave, reverent (toward God, His commandments, and His creations), cheerful (even when life is unpleasant).

Alexis de Tocqueville, came to America to study our system and was so impressed with what he saw, that he stayed 2 years, returned to France and wrote his famous 2-volume work Democracy in America. He had this to say about education: “It cannot be doubted that in the United States the instruction of the people powerfully contributes to the support of the democratic republic; and such must always be the case.  I believe, where the instruction which enlightens the understanding is not separated from the moral education.”

De Tocqueville was amazed at the knowledge the children possessed concerning the Constitution and how the American system operated.  Many were studying from a little book of questions and answers called THE CATECHISM ON THE CONSTITUTION. (Arthur J. Stansbury, 1828)

Next week, I will report on the 2^nd educational cycle – (we are now living in the 3^rd cycle which I will report on in 2 weeks. )

FYI – The books mentioned in this article are still available.

“Hooking Up”—Is it Really Worth it?

Rachel Allison

Last week I wrote about Hydeia Broadbent, a young woman’s crusade to stop HIV/AIDS.

This week I want to write about some of the “lesser” sexually-transmitted diseases and other problems that are caused by “hooking up.”

There are 19 million new infections of sexually transmitted gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis yearly, which cost $17 billion to treat each year.  But there are others—human papillomavirus, herpes, genital warts, hepatitis, trichomoniasis, and scabies, to name just a few.  The World Health Organization says that there “are more than 30 different sexually transmissible bacteria, viruses and parasites.”  Treatment for those in the United States is also in the billions of dollars per year—that is when they’re treatable and not drug resistant.

Assuming that everyone who is having sex is aware of STDs,  I am quite sure that they don’t understand the consequences that those diseases will bring to their lives.  One woman tells her story when she learned she had Genital Herpes.  I can’t imagine the emotional trauma such a discovery would cause.  As a teenager my doctor told me I had athlete’s foot, and emotionally I felt “dirty” until the creams and ointments cleared up the fungus.

Unfortunately, casual sex is expected by too many, and practically revered by  leftists.  Enter Sandra Fluke publicly demanding that free contraception be given to all sexually-active women. I wonder why someone didn’t argue that the monetary cost of complimentary contraception is miniscule compared with the cost of treating the STD’s that will be transmitted during all that “free” sex.

The facts:

• According to a recent CDC (Center for Disease Control) survey only 60% of high-school students who have had sex used a condom the last time they had intercourse.

50% of HS students say they’ve had sex at least once. (This statistic may be low because many don’t consider oral sex as “sex.”)

• According to the AP article entitled “1 in 4 teen girls has a sexually transmitted disease” not only did 25 percent of teenage girls have an STD, “among those who admitted to having sex, the rate was even more disturbing—40 percent had an STD.”  Black girls suffered worst:  48 percent of them had an STD.

The National Cancer Institute at the National Institute of Health stated that the human papillomavirus, which is “spread through direct skin-to-skin contact during vaginal, anal, and oral sex, causes virtually all cervical cancers and most anal cancers and some vaginal, vulvar, penile, and oropharyngeal cancers (cancers in the middle part of the throat.)” And the risk isn’t limited to women. The title of a 2011 NBCNews.com article adequately sums up the situation:  “Cancer spike, mainly in men, tied to HPV from oral sex.”  The article added that “we can expect some 10,000 to 15,000 patients with the oropharyngeal cancers per year in the United States, with the great majority having HPV-positive (cancers.) “High risk HPV infections account for approximately 5 percent of cancers worldwide.”

According to the CDC, “Chlamydia and gonorrhea are important preventable causes of infertility,” even though “most women infected with Chlamydia or gonorrhea have no symptoms.  There are “an estimated 2.8 million cases of Chlamydia and 718,000 cases of gonorrhea that occur annually in the United States.” Each year untreated STDs cause 24,000 women in the US to become infertile.”  STD’s cause approximately one-fourth of all infertility in women, and treatment to rectify infertility can be very costly.

I won’t elaborate on how STD’s affect babies.  But babies can get the dread disease from their mothers causing stillbirths, low birth weight (less than five pounds), conjunctivitis (eye infection) pneumonia, neonatal sepsis (infection in the baby’s blood stream), neurologic damage, blindness, deafness, acute hepatitis, meningitis, chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis.

STD’s truly are “the gift that keep on giving.”

Again I will ask, “Where is the outcry?”  If there were enough voices outraged by the outright disregard of the issue that is bringing so much emotional and physical pain, death and monetary waste, maybe…just maybe we could help bring this deception to the forefront.

Increased Contraception = Increased Abortion: Who knew?

Ann Bailey

Increased use of contraceptives results in increased abortion…who knew!  Seems counter-intuitive, but it is true.  Recently, the media and the Obama spin masters have been all over a study that  supposedly shows that if you hand out free birth control (under Obamacare) you’ll have fewer abortions.  They’re hoping this type of research will convince the general public that forcing employers to pay for their employees’ contraception is a good idea.

The problem for the pro-contraception/pro-abortion team is that the research from countries like Spain, Sweden, England, and Wales tell a completely different story – when you increase contraceptive use you get higher pregnancy and higher abortion rates.  Not to mention that the new Obamacare-supporting study is full of some significant research flaws and invalid assumptions.

Research coming to us from The Guttmacher Institute (a Planned Parenthood affiliate and no friend of the pro-life movement) shows that increased used of contraceptive in the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Singapore, and South Korea also brought about an increased rate of abortion.

Despite an increase in the use of contraceptives in England and Wales, the number of abortions increased from 175,542 in 2009 to 189,574 in the year 2010.  Commenting on this increase in the abortion rates, Paula Franklin, director of Marie Stopes International, states:

“with improvements in contraception rates last year, these figures come as a surprise… Although the rise is small, these abortion figures send a warning for the government’s family planning strategy.”

Since Marie Stopes International is one of the largest abortion providers in the UK, it leaves one wondering just how concerned about that news they could actually be.

Why does increased contraception = increased abortion?   When contraceptives are flowing people will engage in more sex acts and in riskier sexual behavior – often outside of marriage which provides a stabilizing influence to human sexual behavior.   You get more pregnancies because contraception (even when consistently used) is far from 100 percent effective and contraception fails in predictable percentages.   By the way, the highest rate of abortion occurs in cohabiting relationships – a fact that this writer finds shocking and disturbing considering the massive increases in the cohabitation rates over the past few decades.

Now stop and think about the increase use of contraception accompanied by increased sexual activity and what that is going to do to the rate of sexually transmitted disease/infection.  With the exception of limited protections provided by barrier methods such as condoms, contraceptives provide zero protection from sexually transmitted diseases.  The Centers for Disease Control provide supporting data, but there should be no surprise to anyone that there’s a clear link between birth control and increases in STDs.

You don’t have to oppose contraception because of religious reasons to have serious misgivings about the efficacy and the wisdom of flooding the world with contraceptives.

Reader Poll: “During a week, how many evening meals do you sit down and eat together as a family?”

Here’s the question we asked UFI readers:

“During a week, how many evening meals do you sit down and eat together as a family?”

Here’s how readers responded:

57 Percent                   Virtually every night

 1 Percent                    Once a week

8 Percent                     2-3 times a week

34 Percent                   4-5 times a week

As the research continues to mount on the importance of eating together as a family, we thought we’d get a sense of how well our readers are doing.  We recognize that with such hectic lives, sitting down together for each evening meal presents some very real challenges.  We aren’t here to preach, but to remind each of us the positive impact that effort can bring into the lives of our children and to our families.  With the start of a new school year upon us, perhaps it is a good time to evaluate and re-evaluate our schedules and to make time for this important family activity.

Here’s some of the research:

 Family Meal Time

Compared to teens who have frequent family dinners (five or more per week), those who have infrequent family dinners (fewer than three per week) are twice as likely to use tobacco or marijuana; more than one and a half times likelier to use alcohol; and twice as likely to expect to try drugs in the future. “The Importance of Family Dinners V,” The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), Columbia University, 2009 http://www.casacolumbia.org/templates/PressReleases.aspx?articleid=567&zoneid=85

Adolescent girls who reported having more frequent family meals and a positive atmosphere during those meals were less likely to have eating disorders.  Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Marla E. Eisenberg, Jayne A. Fulkerson, Mary Story, and Nicole I. Larson, “Family Meals and Disordered Eating in Adolescents,” Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 162 (1) (2008):  17-22   http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/162/1/17

Consistent family meals were associated with a lower risk of smoking, drinking and using marijuana; with a lower incidence of depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts; and with better grades.  Marla E. Eisenberg, Rachel E. Olson, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Mary Story and Linda H. Bearinger, “Correlations between Family Meals and Psychosocial Well-being Among Adolescents,” Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 158 (2004):  792-796.   http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/158/8/792

Children who regularly dine with their families eat better. They consume more fruits and vegetables, less fat, fewer fried foods, more vitamins and fewer sodas.  “Mathew W. Gillman, et al., “Family Dinner and Diet Quality Among Older Children and Adolescents,” Archives of Family Medicine, 9 (2000):  235-240.
Teens that have less than three family meals per week are 1.5 times more likely to have friends who smoke marijuana and drink.  They are about 1.5 times more likely to have friends who abuse prescription drugs, and 1.25 times more likely to have friends abusing cocaine, meth, heroin, and ecstasy.  Seventy-two  percent of teens think that eating dinner or other meals with their parents regularly is important.  “The Importance of Family Dinners VI,” The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), Columbia University, 2010.  http://www.casacolumbia.org/templates/PressReleases.aspx?articleid=606&zoneid=79