Why Wait?

You’ve heard it a million times before, ”Just use a condom when you have sex and you will be 'safe'.” Is that really true? If not, what is it that makes sex “unsafe”? Do condoms make sex “safe” enough? Don’t be uninformed!

W8 FOR THE FACTS

S.T.I’s (Sexually Transmitted Infections)

About 19 million new STIs occur each year.
Half are between the ages of 15-24
80% of people infected with an STI do not develop initial symptoms.
STIs are the most common diseases in America next to the common cold and flu.
STIs are contagious even though no initial symptoms may exist.
Some STIs are incurable, life long infections. Some can lead to life-threating diseases and even death.

Condoms

Even with 100% use (which is uncommon), condoms at best only reduce the risk of some STI’s
Less than half of 15 to19 year-old males report using a condom consistently over the past year.
Even if used consistently and correctly, condoms slip off or break from 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent of the time.
Latex condoms have a teenager failure rate of 20%.
If used 100% of the time, condoms reduce the risk of Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and HPV infection by about half.

For Resources and More information please check out www.medinstitute.org or www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/stds/condomreport.pdf

Pregnancy — Am I ready to be a parent??

Guess what?

If you are sexually active you are at risk of getting pregnant.
A woman can get pregnant even if it’s her first time ever having sexual intercourse.
A woman can get pregnant during her period and she can get pregnant even if the guy “pulls out”.
Birth control pills are never 100% effective, and must be taken as your doctor tells you in order to be effective at all.
Condoms can leak or break accidentally.
The only 100% effective birth control is abstinence.

Thoughts to ponder...

It’s Friday night, your friends are having a party and they are all going out dancing. You would love to go, but who is going to watch Samuel?

You have a term paper due in 12 hours, but Samuel isn’t feeling well and needs all of your attention. 6 hours later you still haven’t started the paper and Samuel is still crying.

You have to wake up at 6 a.m. to get ready for work but Samuel keeps waking up screaming every hour on the hour. Why won’t he just go to sleep?

Or

You decide to have an abortion. It is your secret. Your mom doesn’t even know.

You carry it around with you until one day you have your own child and wonder what would have happened if you had made a different choice.

Or…

You decide to give the baby up for adoption. Every year on his birthday you wonder what he is doing.

You are convinced you have given your baby a better life, but there is still a side of you that wonders if he looks like you.

None of these decisions are easy to make. The only way you can prevent the heartache now is choosing to wait till your wedding night to have sex.

YOU CAN HELP US TO HELP WOMEN EXPERIENCING AN UPLANNED PREGNANCY TO LEARN ABOUT MAKING THE POSITIVE CHOICE OF ABSTINENCE FOR THE FUTURE. LOIS' LODGE ENCOURAGES WOMEN TO SAVE SEX FOR MARRIAGE.

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http://www.loislodge.org/maildonation.html