Dear Representative:
February 14-21, 2004, is National Condom Week. In recognition of this critical public health intervention, the undersigned organizations are writing to urge you to oppose renewed efforts that have surfaced in the popular press and in Congress in recent months to disparage condoms. Condoms remain highly effective in preventing unintended pregnancy and offer the best protection in our arsenal against a range of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV. Public health messages must continue to encourage sexually active individuals to use condoms consistently and correctly, both at home and abroad. Promoting fear-based messages that question condom effectiveness and go so far as to suggest that it is unsafe to use condoms jeopardize the health of millions of Americans and tens of millions overseas.
We readily acknowledge that the surest way to eliminate the risk for sexually transmitted diseases is to refrain from any sexual contact with another individual. However, for individuals who choose to be sexually active -- a group that includes the vast majority of Americans -- condoms remain an extremely important tool in the drive to reduce sexually transmitted infections.
There has been a great deal of discussion in recent months about human papillomavirus, an extremely prevalent STD which in rare cases, can lead to cervical cancer - a disease that is preventable, treatable and curable. The reality is that eighty percent of sexually active individuals will contract HPV at some point in their lives, but because the virus is largely asymptomatic and usually clears on its own, most will never know they had it.
While available scientific evidence suggests that the effectiveness of condoms in preventing human papillomavirus (HPV) is unknown, condom use has been associated with lower rates of HPV-associated diseases, including cervical cancer. Recent efforts calling attention to HPV miss the mark when it comes to condoms. Increased access to cervical cancer screening and treatment services is actually the best way to prevent cervical cancer. Scaring sexually active individuals away from using condoms will not reduce the prevalence of HPV but it will increase public misunderstanding of HPV and put sexually active individuals at risk for life-threatening STDs such as HIV. Condoms are not 100 percent effective in protecting against STDs -- but for sexually active people they are the best protection we have.
We urge you to support sound public health policy and to speak out against these misguided, fear-based messages that disparage condoms.
Sincerely,
Advocates for Youth
AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families
AIDS Project Los Angeles
American Association of Health Educators
American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists
American Association of University Women
American Civil Liberties Union
American Foundation for AIDS Research
American Public Health Association
American Social Health Association
American Society for Reproductive Medicine
Arizona Family Planning Council
Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals
California Family Health Council
Catholics for a Free Choice
Center for Health and Gender Equity
Center for Reproductive Rights
Center for Women Policy Studies
Choice USA
Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project
Durham Coalition on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention
Family Planning Councils of America, Inc.
Feminist Majority Foundation
Global Campaign for Microbicides
Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Watch
International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region
Ipas
Justice and Witness Ministries - United Church of Christ
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Association of County and City Health Officials
National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health
National Association for Victims of Transfusion-Acquired AIDS
National Coalition of STD Directors
National Council of Jewish Women
National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association
National Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting and Prevention
National Women's Law Center
New York AIDS Coalition
Our Bodies Ourselves
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health®
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Planned Parenthood of Hawai`i
Population Action International
Population Connection
Presbyterians Affirming Reproductive Options
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Seminarians Affirming Reproductive Choices
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States
SNAP Long Island
Tapestry Health
The AIDS Institute
The Alan Guttmacher Institute
The Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Sciences
The Population Institute
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
Women's Edge Coalition