Promiscuity's Tragic Trail

John B. Shea
Reproduced with Permission

The virtue of chastity is the only certain way of preventing the deadly consequences of promiscuity. Postponing sexual activity until marriage with an uninfected mate is the only realistic way for anyone to be one hundred percent sure of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases. It also precludes the dangers of contraceptive pill use, and the temptation to have an abortion with its harmful consequences.

What Damage has Promiscuity Done?

In the last 30 years, due to a dramatic increase in sexual promiscuity, and the fact that 80% of infected persons have no symptoms, there is now a major epidemic of sexually transmitted disease (STD).1
Fifteen percent of sexually active teen age women have been infected with human papilloma virus (HPV).2
Almost all cases of cancer of the cervix of the uterus are caused by HPV.3
Pelvic inflammatory disease which is caused by sexual promiscuity, results in a 600% increase in ectopic (tubal) pregnancy.4
There are 45,534 people who are infected in Canada with human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV). There are 4200 new HIV infections per year in Canada.
There were 16,913 auto-immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) cases in Canada at the end of 1999.5

'Safe' Sex - The Condom Illusion

In young people, in the first year of use, the condom fails 15% of the time in preventing conception. Since a woman is fertile for only 7 days of any 28 day cycle, but may become infected at any time, there are at least 4 times the number of days during which disease can be transmitted as opposed to fertilization. The condom cannot fully protect against any bacterial or virus infection.6,7
The HIV virus can leak through the normally occurring holes in condoms.8
The HIV virus diameter is 5 microns (0.002 inches). The herpes virus diameter is 180 microns. Holes in condoms are 3,500 microns in diameter.9
Leakage of HIV particles occurs through condom holes in one third of condoms.10
Condoms frequently burst, tear or slip off.11

Dire Effects of STDs

Chlamydia:

Women: Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)

Ectopic pregnancy
Infertility
Chronic pelvic pain

Men: Inflammation of testicle

Sterility

Newborn: Premature birth

Pneumonia
Eye infection

Gonorrhea:

Women: PID

Ectopic pregnancy
Infertility
Chronic pelvic pain

Men: Sterility

Infection of joints, heart valves and/or brain

Fetus and Newborn:

Blindness
Meningitis
Arthritis

Hepatitis B: (HBV)

Women and men:

Cirrhosis (chronic scarring) of the liver
Liver cancer

Fetus and Newborn:

Scarring of liver and liver cancer ; 90% of infants become chronic carriers of HBV.

Genital Herpes: (HSV-2)

Fetus and Newborn:

Death
Serious brain damage, therefore an abdominal delivery as opposed to normal vaginal delivery may be needed.

Human Papilloma Virus: (HPV)

Women:

Cancer of cervix, vulva, vagina

Men:

Cancer of penis

Fetus and Newborn:

Warts in throat which may require surgery

Syphilis:

Women and Men:

Serious damage to heart, arteries, brain, eyes, nervous system, bones and joints.
Death

Fetus and Newborn:

Stillbirth
Death soon after delivery 25%
Active syphilis … 40 -70%
Damage to heart, brain, eyes

Human Immuno-deficiency Virus: (HIV)

Women and Men:

Infections: pneumonia, sinusitis, meningitis, bowel infection, tuberculosis of lungs, (highly infectious to others), toxoplasmosis (convulsions).
Malignant tumors of brain (lymphoma), skin (Kaposi cell sarcoma) and cancer of the skin.
Dementia
Loss of speech
Blindness
Numbness, tingling, pain
Muscle weakness
Liver and gall bladder disease

Fetus and Newborn:

One third of babies born to HIV mothers become infected
Average life expectancy is less than 3 years
Only 20 % live to be 10 years old.12

Oral Contraceptive Pill (OCP) - Illusions

It is an illusion that the OCP is harmless.

The OCP does not always prevent pregnancy.
All OCPs cause abortion some of the time (low dose and mini-pills cause it more frequently than standard pills)
Some so-called OCPs cause abortion all of the time.
No OCP prevents transmission of STDs.
Women under 45 who have taken OCPs before their first full term pregnancy, or within 5 years of the onset of menstruation, have a 40% increased risk of developing breast cancer 13,14,15,16
Women who have taken OCPs for more than l year have a 70% increased risk of developing cancer in both breasts.17
OCPs can cause cancer of the liver.
After 20 years of OCP use, young women show a 90% increase in the risk of cancer of the breast.18
Women who take OCPs early in life develop more aggressive breast cancers, and a worse prognosis.19,20
Women who have a family history of breast cancer due to genetic causes and who use OCPs for 4 years before their first full term pregnancy has a 680% increased risk of getting breast cancer. This means that they have 3 in 4 chance of getting breast cancer.21
It has been conservatively estimated that in the U. S. 46,800 breast cancer deaths a year are due to the birth control pill or abortion.22
OCPs may also cause heart attacks, high cholesterol levels in the blood, high blood pressure, depression, migraine headaches, and dark skin spots on the face (Chloasma).

Why have doctors, pharmacists, and the manufacturers not warned women of the dangers of breast cancer in connection with taking OCPs? Financial incentive and fear of being criticized by colleagues may be partly responsible.

The 'Safe' Abortion Illusion

When contraception fails many women are tempted to have an abortion.

A common illusion is that abortion is safer than a normal pregnancy. Apart from the baby who is killed in every abortion, many other complications occur.
In Canada, one women in 28 who have had a surgical abortion is admitted to hospital for severe complications (e.g. hemorrhage or incomplete abortion).23
In Canada 66 abortions resulted in death between 1970 to 1991.24
Canadian government statistics in regard to deaths and complications caused by surgical abortion are misleading. The true rates are concealed since Canadian hospitals and governments code abortions in accordance with the World Health Organization Classification of Disease (ICD). These rules allow the recording of abortion-related deaths under categories other than pregnancy.25
Statistic Canada's Therapeutic Abortions 1995 does not include hospital mortality records. It is based only on therapeutic abortion reports submitted voluntarily by provinces, hospitals, and clinics.26
Women who abort are 4 times more likely to die in the following year than women who carry their pregnancy to term.27
Women who have had an abortion have a 30% increased risk of breast cancer.28 and a greater risk of depression, stress, low self-esteem, suicidal feelings and substance abuse.29
Abortion causes a 50% increase in the risk of subsequent ectopic tubal pregnancy.30

When more than one factor affects the risk of developing breast cancer, the risk is calculated by multiplying the independent risk factors, e.g. Among women with a family history of breast cancer, any woman who uses OCPs for 5 or more years has her risk of getting breast cancer increased to 3 times normal. If she had no family history, it would be twice normal. If a woman who uses OCPs and has a family history of breast cancer, also has an abortion before her first full term pregnancy, the risk of breast cancer is greatly increased.31

References:

1 Facts in Brief, New York. The Allan Guttmacher Institute, 1993 [Back]

2 Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the United States: Exploring the epidemic: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Nov. 20, 1996 [Back]

3 Susan Okie, Test Helps Pinpoint Risk of Cervical Cancer. The Washington Post. May 28, 1999 [Back]

4 Hugh Barber. Female Patient. Vol. 14. April, 1999 [Back]

5 Centre of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control. Health Canada, 2000 [Back]

6 Weller, Susan C. "A Meta-analysis of Condom Effectiveness in Reducing Sexually Transmitted HIV." Social Science and Medicine; Vol. 36; 12: June, 1993, pgs. 1635-44 [Back]

7 Friedman and Trivelli. "Condom Availability for Youth: A High Risk Alternative." Pediatrics. 2/96, p. 285 [Back]

8 "Filtration Signs of Human Immuno-deficiency Virus Type 1 and Surrogate Viruses Used in Test Barrier Materials." Applied Environmental Biology. Vol. 28; 2. Feb. 1992 [Back]

9 Ronald E. Carey et al., "Effectiveness of Latex Condoms as a Barrier to Human Immuno-deficiency Virus. Under Conditions of Simulated Use." Sexually Transmitted Diseases. July - Aug. 1992, Pgs. 230-233 [Back]

10 Prospective Studies of Condom Breakage During Vaginal Intercourse - Developed Countries: A Review of the Literature. Robert A. Hutcher et al. Contraceptive Technology, (sixteenth revised edition). Irvington Publications, 1994, pg. 157. [Back]

11 Dr. Bruce Patterson of Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago in collaboration with scientists at Northwestern University in Evanston Ill. Rush Medical College in Chicago and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. San Francisco Chronical, Feb. 10, 2001 [Back]

12 Wingo G. et al. Cancer (Supplement). 1993; 71: 1501-1517 [Back]

13 Rosenberg L. et al. Case control study of oral contraceptives use and risk of breast cancer. American Journal of Epidemiology. 1996; 143: 25-37 [Back]

14 White E. et al. Breast cancer among young U.S. women in relation to oral contraceptive use. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 1994; 86: 505-514 [Back]

15 Brinston L.A. Oral contraceptives and breast cancer risk among young women. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 6/7/95; 87: 827-835 [Back]

16 Ursin G. et al. Oral contraceptives and pre-menopausal bilateral breast cancer: A case-control study. Epidemiology. 1992; 3: 414-419 [Back]

17 Breast Cancer. Linked to Abortion and the Birth Control Pill. Chris Kahlenborn M.D. One More Soul publishers, Dayton, Ohio, 2000 pg. 164 [Back]

18 Olsson H. et al. Proliferation and DNA ploidy in malignant breast tumors in relation to early contraceptive use and early abortion. Cancer. 1991; 67: 1285-1290 [Back]

19 Ranstam J., Olsson H. et al. Survival in breast cancer and age at start of oral contraceptive usage. Anti-cancer Research 1991; 11: 2043-2046 [Back]

20 Ursin G. et al. Does oral contraceptive use increase the risk of breast cancer in women with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations more than in other women? Cancer Research. 1997; 57: 3678-3681 [Back]

21 Breast Cancer Linked to Abortion and the Birth Control Pill. See #17 above, pgs. 122-123 [Back]

22 Statistics Canada. Hospital Morbidity and Surgical Operations Data for 1992-1993 [Back]

23 Statistics Canada. Selected Therapeutic Abortion Statistics, 1970-1991 [Back]

24 Isabelle Begin. Abortion Related Mortality in Canada, the U.S. and the World. Pitfalls and Shortcomings. ibegin@magma.ca [Back]

25 Ibid. Induced Abortion - "Safer than a Tonsillectomy" Isabelle Begin on hospitalization and mortality due to legally induced abortion in Canada and the U.S. [Back]

26 Statistical Analysis Unit of Finland's National Research and Development Center for Welfare and Health (STAKES) [Back]

27 Joel Brind et al. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 1996; 50: 481-496 [Back]

28 Coleman P.K. and Reardon D. (June 2000) "State-funded abortions vs. deliveries. A comparison of subsequent mental health claims over six years." Poster presented at American Psychological Society, Twelfth Annual Convention. Miami, Fla. [Back]

29 K. O'Bannon. "New Study Finds Abortion Increases Risk of Ectopic Pregnancy by 50%." National Right to Life Director of Research [Back]

30 Chris Kahlenborn. See # 17 above. Pg. 149 -150 [Back]

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