Increased promotion of condoms is not the answer to the increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections in New Zealand

Every year the promotion of condoms increases and every year the rate of sexually transmitted infections increases along with these promotions.

The simple fact is that the Family Planning Association driven campaigns are not working and they have never worked in their attempts to curb the sexually transmitted infections and teen pregnancy rates in New Zealand.

Condoms will not protect against Chlamydia, gonorrhoea, scabies, lice, genital herpes or genital warts (genital warts are the main cause of cervical cancer).

International studies have shown that condoms have a failure rate between 10% and 36%

Last year almost 30% of New Zealand women who had an abortion had become pregnant despite having used a condom, this means that condoms failed for one out of every three of the couples involved.1

A condom will not protect a young person from the emotional hurt of unfulfilled expectations.

Despite this, condoms are still being promoted by the Family Planning Association as the only answer to the very serious problem of New Zealand’s ever increasing STI rates.

This issue is extremely serious and it must be addressed with a solution that will actually reverse the current negative trend, as opposed to the current attempts which have only ever resulted in an increased rate of infection.

The answer is the promotion of youth friendly abstinence education programs. These types of programs are experiencing much success where ever they have been implemented.

A recent study from the Heritage Foundation shows that teenagers who make a sexual abstinence pledge are less likely to experience teenage pregnancy, they are less likely to be sexually active while in high school and they are less likely to engage in risky and unprotected sex.

This is in stark contrast to the continued and unabated negative results of increased condom promotions and “anything goes as long as you use contraception” style education programs. This type of program is currently being promoted by the New Zealand government at the expense of the New Zealand tax payer.

Our Crisis Pregnancy Centre helps women, on a daily basis, to deal with the disastrous results of New Zealand’s current sexual health policies.

How long will New Zealanders have to put up with taxpayer money being used to fund flawed sexual health education programs that do not promote healthy living and only result in an increase in the number of victims of sexually transmitted infections?

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