The WHO has condemned the Vatican's views, saying: "These incorrect statements about condoms and HIV are dangerous when we are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people, and currently affects at least 42 million."
The organisation says "consistent and correct" condom use reduces the risk of HIV infection by 90%. There may be breakage or slippage of condoms - but not, the WHO says, holes through which the virus can pass.
Several physicians were claiming that with missionaries came more patients claiming that prayer would heal any malady they might face, and thus HIV prevention and/or treatment mattered little.
If asked about their husband’s condom usage, the answer was often “never.” After we explained the risks inherent in this behavior, one response from a woman was “God will protect me, I am a Christian.” Another said, “My husband is a Christian and says the Bible says not to use condoms.” Or better yet, I also heard, “If I get sick, it is God’s will.”
Knights of Columbus in the Philippines are preparing to rally against the government’s pro-contraceptive campaign as lawmakers debate population control programs that promote condoms and birth control pills. One organizer said the program is “an immoral and misguided weapon.”The Philippines’ Department of Health has been advocating contraceptives and condoms to stop unwanted pregnancies and to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.“Like what others are saying, we believe that there’s no such thing as safe sex,” Tan [the Knights of Columbus’ Luzon Deputy] added, according to CBCPNews.
“Widespread and indiscriminate promotion of condoms is an immoral and misguided weapon in our battle against AIDS.”
What do professionals have to say?
According to the CDC,
Latex condoms, when used consistently and correctly, are highly effective in preventing heterosexual sexual transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Research on the effectiveness of latex condoms in preventing heterosexual transmission is both comprehensive and conclusive. The ability of latex condoms to prevent transmission has been scientifically established in laboratory studies as well as in epidemiologic studies of uninfected persons at very high risk of infection because they were involved in sexual relationships with HIV-infected partners.
In a 2006 Knights of Columbus publication linked on the KOC website, an author argues that promoting condom use is introducing people to "dangerous and immoral" lifestyles.
What are the main issues and ideas here?
- In teaching kids how to use condoms, teachers communicate the message that they do not believe that they (teens) can live a moral life.
- No condom can protect their heart and their soul, or ensure sound psychological development.
- virtues training and abstinence
- for the past 20 years, school sex education programs,or “safe sex” programs, have worked aggressively at trying to convince sexually active teens to use c o n d o m s .The result? During these efforts, sexually transmitted infections among youth have risen. Nevertheless, advocating condom use makes adults feel like they a r e d o i n g s o m e t h i n g about the problem, when in fact we may be making it worse
- Promoting condom use can make the problem worse for teens in several different ways.
- promoting condom use to kids promotes a risky lifestyle.
- it is in fact immoral to allow anyone to believe that he is protected from infections by using a condom
Latex condoms, used consistently and correctly, are 98-99% effective in preventing HIV
transmission. Two rigorous studies of couples in which one person is infected with HIV and the other is not (known as “discordant couples”) indicate that HIV is very rarely transmitted when condoms are always used.
- In one study of 123 discordant couples who used condoms every time they had sex, none of the uninfected partners became infected. But among 122 couples who used condoms inconsistently, 12 uninfected partners became infected.
- In a separate study of discordant couples, three of 171 (two percent) uninfected female partners became infected when their HIV-infected partners reportedly always used condoms. However, eight of 55 (15 percent) inconsistent condom users became infected.
Studies cited by some to question the effectiveness of condoms in HIV prevention generally have significant design flaws. For example:
- Certain studies do not distinguish between consistent and inconsistent condom use – which is similar to studying the effectiveness of seat belts but including people who do not
always use them. - Some studies do not always assess HIV status before enrolling participants; therefore, it is
likely that some “uninfected” partners were actually infected before entering the trial.
We have other battles to fight against. The battle against the family. Charity begins at home—an element of neighborliness. Brother Knights we continue with firmer determination to lift up and sustain the true meaning of married life and love. There’s no substitute for chaste love. Let us make our homes holy. Let us safeguard the vocation of marriage and the central place of the family in society.
We have the battle against the production and open distribution of condoms by the Department of Health to reduce the fast growth of population. Let us strongly uphold the truth and continue to live by our soled moral principles. Let us earnestly enlighten our people with our solid ethical stand that such gadgets are not only anti AID or anti population measures, but promote promiscuity on the young and infidelity on the married couples. Likewise, our consistent stand against abortion and contraceptive pills which are anti life.
...and condoms aren't the sole weapon in the battle of STD/AIDS prevention. Know your partner. Be responsible. Be informed.
Teens are among those most likely to have multiple sex partners and engage in unprotected sex, and therefore are at highest behavioral risk for acquiring most STDs.
Extensive research indicates that comprehensive school health education programs that include information on condom use do not encourage teens to initiate sex at an earlier age or engage in more frequent sex if they are already sexually active.
- In a recent Swiss study of 16- to 19-year-olds, a sex education program did not increase either the level of sexual activity or the number of sex partners. Importantly, though, among those who were sexually active, condom use did increase.
- A World Health Organization review of 19 studies of sex education programs found there was no evidence that sex education leads to earlier or increased sexual activity in young people. In fact, six studies showed that sex education programs actually led to a delay or decrease in sexual activity. Ten of the studies showed that educationprograms increased safer sex practices among young people who were already
sexually active.
Hi Justin, I checked in on your blog and wanted to respond to your argument here. It's an argument I've heard many times before, and like other forms of the argument, it has two problems: confusion about correlation and inaccuracy about the evidence you use.
ReplyDeleteIf it were true that the Catholic hierarchy's position on condoms and AIDS were making the AIDS problem worse in Sub-Saharan Africa, you would expect that the more heavily Catholic countries in that region would have higher prevalence of HIV infection. But that's not actually so. Among the African countries that have the highest prevalence of HIV infection, there does not appear to be a strong correlation with percentage of Catholic population. Swaziland, for instance, has the highest rate of HIV infection at 26%, and the country is 20% Catholic. Botswana has a 24% infection rate, but only 5% of the country is Catholic. Lesotho has high rates of HIV and Catholicism (23%, 45%), but then South Africa has a high infection rate (18%), but very few Catholics (7%). The next two on the rate-of-infection list, Zimbabwe and Namibia, also have small numbers of Catholics. Many more heavily Catholic countries have much lower rates than these: Equatorial Guinea is 87% Catholic and has an HIV infection rate of 5.4%. Madagascar is 40% Catholic and has an infection rate of 1.7%. HIV/AIDS is still a big problem in both of these countries, but it begins to be clear that high rates of Catholicism do not readily correspond to high rates of HIV infection. (For figures on AIDS in Africa, see http://www.kff.org/hivaids/upload/7365-065.pdf. For religion figures, see the CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/)
Someone might say that we should exclude Madagascar from consideration, since it's an island. But by saying that, you'd have to admit that HIV infection rates are determined by much more than just the religion of the people (and their supposed adherence to every word the pope says). They're determined by geography, by culture, by poverty, by politics, and by a whole lot of other factors. The argument you're presenting assumes that whatever the pope says, the clergy teach, and the people obey. It also assumes that Catholic teaching on condoms is the only Catholic teaching that matters when it comes to the spread of HIV. The Catholic Church also has well known teachings against pre- and extramarital sex. Is it reasonable to suppose that there are lots of Catholics in Africa who are absolutely committed to the Church's teaching about condom use, but don't accept its teaching on extramarital sex?
The safest bet is to say that the pope's teaching on condoms doesn't have much of an effect on HIV-infection rates. "Genocidal stupidity" is something of an overstatement.
For another perspective on the kind of work Catholic clergy are doing in Africa, read a recent column by Nicholas Kristof in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/opinion/02kristof.html. And regarding African governments' culpability for the AIDS epidemic there, see this article in a recent issue of the Economist:
http://www.economist.com/world/middle-east/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16018270
(This article may be behind a pay wall.)
The pope-condoms-Africa-AIDS rhetorical move is great for stirring up moral outrage among people who are already suspicious of the Catholic Church, but it just doesn't have good facts or reasoning behind it.
The huge problem is that people around the world listen to the pope because he is recognized as an authority figure. Even if the population is not decidedly Catholic, these statements from priests, missionaries, and vatican officals are not helping the problem at all. Aside from AIDS and condoms, condoms are helpful in preventing the spread of other STDs.
ReplyDeleteReligion certainly isn't the only factor in AIDS prevention, but when people want to spread facts about sex and condoms and the church comes in to spread false information, things go arwy.
The pope should feel morally guilty for making these statements, perpetuating the false information, apologize for his comments, and harming a population.
You bring up very good points and statistics, but the pope and others are still wrong in making these statements.
Perhaps they should say something like, "Well, we don't believe that people should be having sex outside of marriage, but if you're going to, you should learn the facts and be safe."