Abstinence is "not realistic at all"

I just read this CNN story on the interview Bristol Palin did with Fox News. She says that abstinence is the best option, but also believes that abstinence is not a realistic expectation for teenagers.

I fully agree. However, I connect those two thoughts with an acknowledgment that contraception is very important to prevent disease transmission and pregnancy. I don't know how Bristol reconciles her two beliefs, but she has a baby now, so you can draw your own conclusions.

Our society is fighting biology. We tell our 16-year-olds in the clinic that if we were living 200 years ago, they would be married and have kids by now. But instead, because we want them to grow up and continue their education, they need to put off having sex. They need to control their hormones. And if they can, that's wonderful (and believe me, I hand out the "101 Ways to Say No to Sex" brochure left and right); but if they can't, they need to know how to protect themselves from STDs and pregnancy. And no, the oral contraceptive pills most of them are on for out of control periods do not count.

So when that 16-year-old the other day (the one I had to clandestinely sneak instructions for emergency contraception to) told me she had had sex, and she said, "We talked about it a lot and decided we wanted to do this. I mean, we're both religious and we believe in waiting until marriage, but we also love each other and talked about this for a long time before making our decision," I couldn't laugh at her or point out the idiocy of her two opposing statements. That's how teenagers are. They know, at least to some degree, that they should wait, but it's also an unrealistic expectation for some people. Thank goodness she and her boyfriend have the heads on their shoulders to recognize that they don't want a baby anytime soon. That's all we can ask for, really.

So I will happily give out condoms and dental dams with explicit instructions on how to use them and why, and I will continue to put fear into teenagers' minds about what STDs are and what they look like and how they are transmitted. And how to use their OCPs as emergency contraception if they have them, or how to get Plan B if they need it. Because while no one wants 16-year-olds to have sex, when they decide to have sex, they're going to do it. Better prepared than not, right?