Gosh! With all those contraceptive options available, Americans manage to make babies they didn't intend to make! How could such a thing happen!
Two words: Risk Compensation.
Risk Compensation is why people will behave more recklessly the safer they believe they are. When people perceive sexual activity as risk-free, they engage in much more of it.
Back to WSJ:
And many young people are in "the fog zone" in which their beliefs about pregnancy don't match their behaviors, according to a 2009 report by the National Campaign to End Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. In a survey conducted by the Guttmacher Institute of 1,800 single men and women aged 18 to 29, more than 80% of both sexes said it was important to them to avoid pregnancy right now, yet 43% of those who are sexually active said they used no contraception or used it inconsistently.
See also Taking Chances: Abortion and the Decision not to Contracept, by Kristin Luker.
4 comments:
You want to know what else we should get rid of? Seat belts. Seat belts make it less dangerous to drive recklessly, so because of risk compensation, they cause people to drive more recklessly.
Hey, it makes an equal amount of sense....
I suppose sexual intercourse is a requirement to travel from point A to point B?
I'd say the better thing to get rid of is the kind of idiocy that you spout, OC.
Thank God for contraception -- some of us don't take it for granted, and are TERRIFIED of the risks.
I would no sonner have unprotected sex than I would stick my hand in a blender. But that's just me!
Off-topic comment: The terrorist murderer Scott Roeder (who shot Dr. Tiller) has filed a brief complaining about prison and asking to be released. Awwwwwwwwwww.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jaLZyHUZ2vWSrE1Go3eZ1qUW47GgD9F7HTI00
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