Let's talk about sex, baby

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about sex. From the lecture I had today on contraceptive counseling to the recent public debate over federal funding for Planned Parenthood to the omnipresent national abortion conversation. For some reason, I thought that people had at least some basic knowledge about sex and contraception from either their parents or their junior high health classes or, hey, the internet. Apparently this is not the case, so let's clear a few things up.

1. “The fact is that 95 percent of the contraceptives on the market kill the baby in the womb,” said Jim Sedlak of the American Life League.

INCORRECT. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines pregnancy as beginning with the fertilized egg’s implantation. Even if you believe that life begins prior to that - at the joining of sperm and egg - the majority of contraceptive measures intervene BEFORE the sperm and the egg meet. Let's review:

a. Hormones (aka the pill) - birth control pills prevent a woman from ovulating. If there is no egg, there is nothing for the sperm to fertilize and thus no baby is formed. The pill also has the happy side effects of decreasing the risk of ovarian cancer, reducing acne, and decreasing period-related pain. There are plenty of reasons women take the pill that have nothing to do with sex; it is a first line treatment for dysmenorrhea, endometriosis, ovarian cysts and fibroids.

b. Intra-uterine device (aka IUD) - One form of IUD, the Mirena, contains hormones and thus partially acts via the same mechanism as the pill. All IUDs also cause alterations in cervical mucus, which prevent sperm from being able to fuse with an egg. There are enzymes in cervical mucus that aide the sperm in 1) getting to the egg and 2) penetrating it. Without these cervical enzymes, fertilization does not occur.

c. Condoms - okay, I should hope this is self-explanatory. If the sperm is in a wrapper and not in the vagina, it's not going to make contact with an egg and create a baby.

2. If I have anal or oral sex then I won't get STDs.

INCORRECT. In fact, if you are having anal sex you should be getting regular anal pap smears. A cotton q-tip is swabbed in the anus and the cells analysed the same way they are for a cervical pap smear. HPV will do the same thing to the cells in the anus as it does to the cervix: cause cancer. Recall that some strains of HPV do not cause symptoms so you're not safe just because you don't have warts. Famous case: Farrah Fawcett died of anal cancer. HPV has also caused a rise in mouth and throat cancers, however we do not routinely swab for oral HPV at this time.

3. Guardasil (the HPV vaccine) is only for girls.

INCORRECT. It has been FDA approved for men as well. Men can transmit HPV to their sexual partners and, when infected, HPV causes an increased risk for penile cancer (still rare though). HPV will cause anal and oral cancers just as effectively in men as women.

4. “Fertility and babies are not diseases,” said Jeanne Monahan of the Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity

SORT OF. Many physicians consider pregnancy a natural and healthy state; however it does have a diagnosis code (an ICD-9) and it does dramatically and sometimes permanently alter the physiology of the mother. If it were totally benign we wouldn't require so many pre-natal visits, lab tests, ultrasounds and testing. There are diseases a woman can have that make pregnancy a clear and present danger to her health, even potentially fatal. There is also the issue of implantation in an abnormal part of the body (ectopic) which is also extremely dangerous to mom.

Public debate is healthy and I don't expect everyone to hold the same opinions as me; however I think is important that we are at least factual and informed about the topic. Let's not pass laws in ignorance.