Dear Ms Walker,

A sensible and well written piece on the abstinence versus education issue has at last appeared with your article in the Guardian today “In Praise Of Chastity”. Too many liberals are so hellbent on not being seen to pander to fundamentalist christian-style prudery that they have missed the simple fact that if a campaign to discourage teenagers from having sex in the first place is successful, there is a much greater chance that their own goals of less teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases will be realised! As you suggest, The Silver Ring Thing (for example) will not and should not ever been seen as a replacement for sex education, but should be warmly welcomed by all who genuinely wish to see an improvement in the teenage birth rate, in the experiences of our young people and in their health.

Thank you for this article.

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John Wright

johnwright@softhome.net

(Please feel free to email me at johnwright@softhome.net on this or any other posts)