[Epona]

If it's a choice between providing free condoms or treating STDs and dealing with unwanted pregnancies, I'd say providing free condoms was a great deal cheaper!

They're bloody expensive to buy here anyway, I usually get a few from the doctor when I'm down there, save me a bit of cash.

I really think it all comes down to education and access to confidential contraception advice. It astounds me the amount of naivety there is about conception and how STDs are transmitted. Pushing abstinence as a solution is never going to work, it might be easy to think at age 13 that you're not going to have sex until you're married, but at 15 or 16 that can easily go out the window.

I don't think preaching abstinence is healthy, mentally or physically. There is nothing dirty, sinful, or wrong about consensual sex, and I think that notions of abstinence just lead to people being repressed and having hang-ups. It's far more important to make sure people have access to contraception and sex education, to help them make sensible and safe choices.