To the editor:

Thank you, Reverend Ketcham, for your polite response to my letter concerning free condom distribution on South Whidbey Island. I can tell that you are concerned for our young people.

Churches certainly should play an important role in educating our youths in proper morals. In fact, I believe churches are the only entities besides parents who should do so.

However, I wish you had stated the source of your statistics wherein you state that abstinence-only sex education has led to a rise in both STDs and teen pregnancies. I have read very different statistics. Perhaps it depends somewhat on who teaches the course, how it is taught and how the statistics are obtained.

I have often wondered why teens can get free condoms, but no one offers free Pap smears or mammograms or any other known medical preventatives. Shouldn’t it be important to prevent all disease? It seems there is no shortage of free condoms for teens or free needles for victims of drug abuse, but why not for other medical needs?

The answer is that there is an agenda involved. Planned Parenthood is a misnomer, for it was organized by a Socialist, Margaret Sanger, for the purpose of limiting population growth. I cite my source as “Margaret Sanger” on Wikipedia.

There is one other aspect of early sexuality that I did not discuss in my last letter that is as important as the danger of STDs or pregnancy, and that is the emotional health of young people.

At age 15, young men and women are simply not mature enough to deal with sex, the subsequent rejection that often follows, the embarrassment and other emotional problems that come down the road due to early sex. There will be scars. Our young people will not be harmed by waiting another two or three years until they are ready for marriage or at least a committed relationship. There is every likelihood that early sexual encounters will end in regret.

As Teen-Aid so aptly quotes, “Abstinence is saying yes to the rest of your life.”

Judith LaMontagne

Freeland