Sigh, do we really have to do this again?

Okay, so it isn't that suprising that the United Nations has come out and criticized the teaching that the Catholic Church holds and defends on sexual morality. It isn't even suprising that the logic makes no sense. However, it is none the less irritating.

"In Latin America the use of condoms has been demonized, but if they were used in every relation I guarantee the epidemic would be resolved in the region," said Alberto Stella, the UNAIDS Coordinator for Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Well, I wonder if this is a really true and good statement, someone just blowing smoke for an agenda or simply a misinformed soul?

I don't know the answer but I know that if condoms were used and used perfectly we would still have AIDS transmission. Here is an article talking about the fact that the condom only prevents pregnancy 98% of the time when used properly.

When condoms are used reliably, they have been shown to prevent pregnancy up to
98 percent of the time among couples using them as their only method of contraception.

Considering this is not a measure of failures of the condom as you have a very small window for pregnancy to occur over the course of a woman's cycle it has to make you wonder how many other times sperm gets through but doesn't achieve pregnancy? Ok, wait we are talking about AIDS, not how often sperm get through, right? Well, sperm are bigger than the AIDS virus.

Average HIV particle is 0.08 um wide and the average sperm head is 4 - 5 um
long and 2.5 - 3.5 um wide. --Dr. Holodniy , Stanford University school of Medicine.

To sum it up that would be about the difference between the size of a dime (HIV virus) and a tennis ball (head of a sperm). We also know that their are pores in the latex condoms, their is debate and varying studies as to the size and danger from them. I did find a few studies that observed some virus making it through. More important though is infection rates, I will concede in no small fashion that the rate of infection goes down in a monogamous couple that uses a condom where only one partner is infected as found in this article.

In a multi-center Italian study that followed 305 sexually active seronegative female sexual partners of HIV-infected men for a median of 24 months, 3.9 infections occurred per 100 person-years (py). (Saracco) The HIV incidence was reduced by 84 percent in women who always used condoms compared with women who used them inconsistently or never (rate ratio 0.2; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.1-0.5).*

Basically, the rate of infection went down by 85%. What does that mean? Well, if we have a situation that kills 100 people every month, we are now only killing 15. Is this the solution we really want to SOLVE the problem of AIDS? So, do condoms resolve the problem? Uhhh, no!

I found another article that also cites the facts that I have cited and it is found here. Again stating that you have a 2% perfect use chance of getting pregnant and 85% less chance of getting killed, I mean getting AIDS (for all intents and purposes these two things are the same right now) versus not using a condom at all. Again, I must reiterate if you have the following three choices which do you pick?

1. Have a 50-50 chance of being killed.
2. Have a 7.5% chance of being killed.
3. Almost zero to zero percent chance of being killed.

Just the facts, abstinence and chaste monogamy make it hard for the HIV virus to get in the door.

Alright, back to the article again:

"The fact young people start to be sexually active between 15 and 19 without sex education contributes to the spreading of the virus, as well as the fact that the evidence shows abstinence is not working," Stella told Reuters.

No, actually abstinence works just fine, people these days are choosing not to use it and are placing themselves in danger. Show me how someone actually being chaste/abstinent contracts AIDS and I have already shown you how someone out in the world living it up contracts AIDS and at almost infinitely greater rates than someone who is abstinent or in a faithful committed and monogamous relationship.

Really, do I need to make a parody? No, it wasn't that funny anyway. The cold hard truth is that people not doing the safest thing doesn't mean the safest thing doesn't work. Alright, I am going to get off my soapbox for a few and try to get some sleep. If everyone would just be faithful and not live life like immediate sexual satisfaction was the be all end all, we would have this AIDS epidemic shut down in no time but some people just can't stop running across the street in front of the bus. Sadly, some people will continue to get hit by the bus, even if we put soft bumpers on the bus they will still get hurt. If not through AIDS, through the emotional damage of imperfect sexual relations designed around personal pleasure and not love for spouse.

Under the Mercy,

Matthew S

p.s. The Curt Jester has some good insight and did a wonderful commentary on this yesterday while I was at work showing the condom distribution doesn't solve the problem.