Via Ed’s blog comes this report of volunteers at a crisis pregnancy center lying to women.
For several minutes, a CPC employee told horror stories about the dangers of being on birth control, saying she typically tries to talk women out of using it. She likened birth control to “tremendous dosages of steroids,” and belittled her patient for opting to flood her body with artificial hormones. “You really want that stuff inside of you? You have a brain, think and choose here,” she said. “Any of that stuff is just not good for you…”
The CPC employee falsely asserted that condoms and birth control pills are about equally effective at preventing pregnancy, and claimed that using condoms doesn’t actually prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted infections. “They’re naturally porous — there’s always a chance of them breaking, a chance of spillage,” she said. “The only safe sex is no sex.”
Others have already commented on this story, but I just want to add that this is one more cost of religion: it leads people who would like to be good, honest folk into wholesale lying and deception. I’m sure that this woman was volunteering at the CPC out of a sincere desire to be helpful and to do good. Unfortunately, because of her religion, what she’s actually doing is evil and harmful.
Nor is this exceptional behavior. Religion drives a lot of people to do the same thing, despite their well-intended but ill-informed motives. Women themselves are actively promoting a society that enslaves women, deprives them of their right to make their own choices, and makes them feel guilty for being female—because their religion teaches them that that’s the way things should be. They never stop to question whether their religion is right, nor do they ask why, if it were true, would they need to tell lies in order to promote it. It just is. You don’t think about it, you don’t look for anything better, you just blindly obey and try to enslave others as well.
What would be the point of porous condoms? What would be the point in claiming that there is a risk of breakage and spilling after making that porous claim?
The only exception I know of are natural “lambskin” condoms. Those are good for birth control, but since they’re actually made out of natural sheep parts, they are as porous as the membrane they’re made from. Not good for STDs, but in a relationship where that’s not an issue but pregnancy is (and, perhaps latex allergy or issues with hormonal BC are) then they’re an option.
One that almost no one thinks about, which makes the original comment absurd. People who talk about condoms, mean latex, maybe polyurethane. Not the one exception.
I suspect some of them, at least, don’t see it as “lying” but as “telling a little fib to get her to do the right thing”.
They never stop to question whether their religion is right, nor do they ask why, if it were true, would they need to tell lies in order to promote it.
Having dealt with a lot of anti-choicers, I strongly suspect the CPC volunteer in question sincerely believes the untruths she told. These people have strong tendencies toward sheep-like acceptance and obedience to authority figures (on their side); said higher-ups do the conscious lying, and the lower-downs do the suppression of cognitive dissonance.
trazan @ # 1 – I doubt anyone makes or sells them any more, but pre-AIDS, some condoms were made of animal intestines: adequate for blocking sperm, but useless against viruses. Modern latex condoms do prevent sperm from getting through, but can leak or break if not stored properly: a day or more in a wallet or a car’s glove-box will make them practically useless.
Competent counselors will provide warnings against such misuse; anti-choicers often exaggerate the problems far beyond reality.
Oops on my # 2 – pls read as “Modern latex condoms do prevent viruses from getting through…
As Steven Weinberg said: “Lots of people do evil things, but to make good people do evil things, for that you need religion.” (or ideology). [Probably not the exact quote]
“…a day or more in a wallet or a car’s glove-box will make them practically useless. ”
Honestly didn’t know that. Do you have a source? I assumed as long as the foil wrapper was intact and it was in date it would be fine. (Remembers the days when a condom might rest in my wallet for months before use.)
“A day … practically useless” is ridiculous scaremongering
Storage in excessively hot (100F+) or in direct sunlight will “prematurely age’ the condom. Given that If stored properly, the average shelf life for latex condoms may be as long as four to five years, ‘premature ageing” does not mean one day.
If the condom is lubricated, intact and before its expiry date – it’s practically useful. And hugely better than nothing.
It’s definitely better to store them somewhere other than your car glovebox or wallet – but it’s far better to have them with you than in your fridge at home.
If they’re in your wallet for months, you might want to rethink several strategies, ensuring product freshness is the least of your worries
This again reafirms what I have always believed Religion is pure poison and fouls everything and everyone it touches. This or these women should not be working at the CPC for any reason
Keep two in your wallet and swap them out twice a year. Set a calendar alert and/or use dates with significance for you. (Some people use daylight savings, but that’s evil.) Presto! Always prepared.
@CGM:
I disagree. I would bet that virtually all of these “counselors” wholeheartedly believe these lies are the gospel truth, because it’s what they’ve been told by the religious right.
voidhawk @ # 6 & quidam @ # 7 – My source is multiple talks given by counselors at public health services and Planned Parenthood clinics (at which latter I worked for 11 years).
All the clinic people who actually work “in the field” have a string of stories to tell about condoms breaking or tearing after relatively short periods of exposure to excessive heat.* (Ftr: Living and working in Florida, nearly all the anecdata I’ve encountered has been local stories: a condom left in a glove box in a car in a parking lot here will break down more rapidly than one similarly situated in Seattle…)
*Prolonged (such as overnight) freezing won’t help either, for all y’all damn Yankees.