Misrepresenting the scientific evidence and contradicting mainstream public health prevention experts, social conservatives assert that condoms do not protect against most sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), according to "Public Health Advocates Say Campaign to Disparage Condoms Threatens STD Prevention Efforts," by Heather Boonstra of The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI)

• Congressional conservatives have misinterpreted findings from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) workshop report to proclaim that condoms are ineffective. The NIH report actually found that condoms prevent transmission of HIV and gonorrhea, and a "strong probability of condom effectiveness" against six other STDs.

• The Bush Administration stated officially in December that the promotion of "abstinence for the unmarried and fidelity for those who are married" is the primary STD prevention strategy for the United States.

Boonstra argues that this effort to devalue condom use is part of a crusade to undermine the notion of "safer sex" and exclusively promote abstinence outside of marriage as official government policy. Undermining confidence in condom effectiveness threatens people's health and lives because sex among unmarried people is common worldwide. According to previous AGI research in 14 countries, relatively high proportions of never-married teenagers and young adults—particularly young men—have had sex.

Despite long-standing evidence that condoms successfully prevent transmission of STDs, in 2000, Congressional conservatives convinced the NIH, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to convene a workshop to evaluate published evidence on condom effectiveness. The workshop concluded that the existing evidence definitively indicates that condoms prevent transmission of HIV and gonorrhea. Available evidence on six other STDs was insufficient; however, because condoms are "essentially impermeable" to the smallest of STD viruses, the workshop reported that there is a "strong probability of condom effectiveness" against these diseases as well.

The workshop report explicitly cautions that the "inadequacies of the evidence available...should not be interpreted as proof of the adequacy or inadequacy of the condom." And yet, abstinence-only-until-marriage proponents are using the report to proclaim that condoms are ineffective, advocating an approach that focuses exclusively on promoting abstinence for all people outside of a heterosexual, monogamous marriage.

Condoms are being attacked internationally as well as domestically. At a December 2002 meeting of 30 Asian/Pacific nations in Bangkok, U.S. officials demanded the deletion of a reference to "consistent condom use" to fight HIV/AIDS and other STDs, and issued an official statement that, because "condoms are simply not 100% effective," the United States "promotes abstinence for the unmarried and fidelity for those who are married" as its primary STD prevention strategy.

HIV and STD prevention advocates acknowledge that condoms are not "perfect," but when used consistently and correctly they can prevent transmission of most STDs. According to Jacqueline E. Darroch, AGI's vice president for science, "What health educators and service providers really need from research is a better understanding of the difficulties people face using condoms effectively, so that they can better help sexually active couples wanting to avoid disease or unintended pregnancy to use condoms consistently and correctly at every act of intercourse."

Boonstra's analysis appears in the March issue of The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy. Other analyses in this issue include:

• "Bush Administration Isolates U.S. At International Meeting to Promote Cairo Agenda," by Susan Cohen;

• "New Medical Records Privacy Rule: The Interface with Teen Access to Confidential Care," by Cynthia Dailard;

• "Lessons from Before Roe: Will Past be Prologue?" by Rachel Benson Gold