Nearly one out of every two high school students is sexually active. (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Imagine boarding an airplane, fastening your seat belt, then hearing the captain make the following announcement:  “Welcome aboard!  We have a 98% chance of successfully arriving at our destination today.”  Do you regret boarding the plane at that point?  Even though a 2% risk is a low percentage, it might not be low enough given what’s at stake.

As a means of comparison, the obvious problem with the Safe Sex approach is that it is 98% effective against pregnancy, meaning that for every one hundred teen couples who use condoms correctly and consistently, two will still be confronted with an unplanned pregnancy.  Furthermore, federal drug regulators found that latex condoms are “highly effective” at preventing HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, and hepatitis B, but noted that condoms seem to be less effective against genital herpes, human papillomavirus, syphilis, and chancroid.

There are additional pitfalls associated with a Safe Sex approach.  Consider the following:

Young people aren’t exactly known for their forethought and preparedness. In order for condoms to be 98% effective, they must be used every time a young person has sex.  This presents a problem since a sexually active teenager will likely encounter unplanned opportunities to have sex and may not have a condom.

There are numerous ways to misuse a condom. Even when young people do use condoms, it’s fairly easy to significantly compromise the effectiveness by failing to use them properly.

Some teenagers don’t want to be “safe.” The Safe Sex platform is derived out of the factual notion that unprotected sex is risky.  In actuality, this message has the potential to provoke those teens who want to be labeled anything but “safe.”

Many teenagers are convinced the consequences will never happen to them. Safe Sex fear tactics fail to be effective against the masses of teenagers who conclude, “Those bad things will never happen to me,” a naive yet prevalent belief commonly held among young people throughout the ages.

Condoms don’t protect against feelings of shame and regret. Despite Hollywood’s often shallow portrayal, there’s more to sex than physical contact.  Furthermore, many young people struggle with painful emotions after having sex with someone whom they share no long term commitment.  Simply put, condoms don’t protect the human heart.

A Fair Conclusion

Obviously if young people are going to be sexually active, it’s best that they use birth control and condoms.  Having said that, the Safe Sex approach presents a shallow view of sex by conveying the notion that as long as a young person does not get pregnant or catch a disease, sex with whomever, whenever is perfectly acceptable.  In this way it seems the Safe Sex message is incomplete, offering young people an explanation of “how to,” but failing to address “why” and “Is it worth it?”

The truth is that as long as sex is viewed as commonplace, void of all sacredness, a society will always suffer consequences, whether teenagers wear condoms or not.

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