DISCUSSION LEAFLET, NO.2
Issued by:
THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNBORN CHILDREN
Ard na Greine, Eaton Brae, Dublin 14. Phone: 971488
IS CONTRACEPTION THE ANSWER TO ABORTION?
The point is often made that if contraceptives were more widely available, there would be no abortions. This sounds quite a reasonable assumption, but, the reality is very different and reveals a dramatic increase in premarital teenage pregnancies, and abortions, in countries where they were widely available to young people. Statistics from most Western countries reveal this.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Contraceptives became available to American teenagers in 1968. This was followed by an alarming increase in teenage pre-marital sex which resulted in such a rise in adolescent pregnancies that even the abortion and Family Planning Clinics failed to hold down premarital births. The following figures give some idea of the scale of the problem:
Teenage pre-marital Births:
In 1970 » 190,000
In 1978 » 240,000
Teenage Abortions:
In 1970 » 90,000
In 1978 » 450,000
(Source: "Linacre Quarterly" - May 1982)
So alarmed was the American Planned Parenthood Federation that its "Family
Planning Perspectives" of Sept./Oct. 1980 carried the following admission in
it’s lead editorial:
"More teenagers are using contraceptives and using them more consistently
than ever before. Yet the number and rate of adolescent pregnancies continues to rise."
EUROPE
The "Eurostat" figures show a similar trend. Taking the situation in England and Wales as typical, the following abortion figures speak for themselves.
Abortion figures:
1970 » 75,962
1990 » 174,906
THE IRISH SITUATION
Contraceptives became available to 18 year olds in July 1985 and as elsewhere,
an increase in out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancies followed:
| Year | Live Births | Abortions | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 1689 | 574 | 2263 |
| 1990 | 2244 | 666 | 2910 |
WHY THE INCREASE IN TEENAGE PREGNANCIES FOLLOWING AVAILABILITY OF CONTRACEPTIVES?
- The underlying reasons are:
- The high-powered promotion of contraceptives.
- The vulnerability of young people who are becoming conscious of their sexuality and the implicit approval of teenage sex by making contraceptives available to them.
- The high failure rate of the condom which is the most widely used contraceptive. The most recent and credible available report was published in September 1990 by the "Population Information Programme" of John Hopkins University, USA. It quotes a general failure rate of 10% to 15% rising to 18% in the case of teenagers. The increased sexual activity, coupled with this failure rate causes the increase in pregnancies. Young people are not being told these facts but are being deceived by the false claim of completely 'safe sex'.
It is significant that the homosexual movement tacitly acknowledge the failure of the condom in relation to AIDS. In an advice leaflet to their members they state: "CONDOMS MAY HELP BUT DO NOT RELY ON THEM FOR PROTECTION."
WHAT THEN IS THE ANSWER TO ABORTION AND TEEN PREGNANCIES?
The answer has been clearly spelled out by our leading Church Figures, in various Catholic Bishops’ Pastorals, by the Church of Ireland Primate, Dr. Eames (in an address in the Church of Ireland Gazette in May 1987) and indeed by many prominent churchmen of all Christian denominations. These affirm that discipline and chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage is the only answer to the problems of out of wedlock births, abortions and the dreadful disease of AIDS.
The Churches have spelled out the solution, BUT WHO IS LISTENING?