In an article shamelessly entitled Don’t Believe the Contraception Industry: Sex Education Doesn’t Work, the British periodical The Guardian presents the opinions of Norman Wells of the Family Education Trust. The article seems to be a reaction to Polly Toynbee’s article on the need for resonsible sex education. The basic premise of Mr. Wells’ thesis? Get this:
Our own study… reveals that not a single primary care trust was able to cite any evidence that the confidential provision of the morning-after pill in pharmacies has contributed to a reduction in under-16 conception rates.
The first point I am compelled to make is that morning-after pills AREN’T CONTRACEPTION. Morning-after pills deal with the possibility that conception may have already occurred and are an attempt to treat that possibility post-conception. Second, “our own study”? As in, not performed by an independent research labs with proven methods? I wouldn’t believe either side of this debate doing a study that wasn’t independent. Polly Toynbee called this study “a spurious story,” and unless it was performed by an accredited independent research company, I’d tend to agree.
Mr. Wells’ point is the familiar refrain: “there is also evidence that the ready availability of contraception results in some young people becoming sexually active who would not otherwise have done so.” No evidence is cited, of course, and we all know that young kids go out and have sex not for love or lust but because of the ready availability of the morning-after pill, right? Isn’t that why YOU had sex when you were a teenager?
I really find it interesting that the study focuses only on the availability of the morning-after pill and not on overall sex education, condom use, STD information, etc. But then, I guess that what Mr. Wells did the “study” on.
