A student recently made and distributed posters warning about unprotected sex, STDs, HIV, and AIDS along with condoms and a sign that read “Take One.” She explained that while she understands “the Church’s view on contraception…giving people the means to protect themselves from HIV is the morally right thing to do.” While not trying to offend anyone on a Catholic campus, she was trying to raise awareness about an issue that everyone on campus should be concerned about: premarital sex and sex education on campus.

     A quote extracted from the front of an oral sex pamphlet provided by the Saint Vincent College Wellness Center reads “when it comes to your health, ignorance isn’t bliss;” if this is the case then why does Saint Vincent only support abstinence education and not sex education?

     As a Catholic institution, Saint Vincent follows the rules of the Catholic Church. According to Fr. Afunugo, the Catholic Church has always taught that the union of a man and won in marriage is a good and holy thing, and has roots as early 340 AD when a council of Catholic bishops met in Gangra and stated that “If anyone disparages marriage, shuns a faithful and God fearing wife who sleeps with her husband, and speaks as though she cannot enter the kingdom of God, let him be anathema.” Similarly this mantra has been repeated over the years at both the second and fourth Lateran Councils, in 1930 by Pope Pius XI, in 1968 by Pope Paul VI and most recently in Familiaris Consortiio by Pope John II.

     According to a pamphlet entitled "Sex and Contraception" obtained from Saint Vincent’s Wellness Center When it comes to sex, the Catholic Church does not support premarital sex, supported by the viewpoint of the church that sexual union has meanings of “I love you,” “I will try to work for your happiness,” and “I want to share my life with you and have a child with you.” Even oral sex is considered wrong between unmarried couples according to the Church. The pamphlet also states “the reasons that contraception is wrong are related to the reasons why sex before marriage is wrong.”

     The Church condemns contraception because it falsifies the meaning of the sexual act and “impedes both the emotional bonding and the life-giving power of sexuality.” Yet with the widespread availability of contraception the church believes that people have lost sight of the truth that those not ready for babies are not ready for sexual intercourse.

     The pamphlet states that all Christian, and even some non-Christian churches, oppose artificial contraception. Listed along with the Catholic Church are Luther, Calvin, Wesley, and Gandhi. It was only in 1930 that the Anglican Church stated that for reasons, within marriage, contraception could be permissible. Throughout the decades the various Catholic Popes have issued and reissued encyclicals on Christian marriage and the constant teaching that because contraception “violates goods intrinsic to marriage, it is intrinsically wrong.”  

     This teaching of the Church went unchallenged until the 1960s when the “Pill” was released to the public, with a rise of feminism causing people to accept contraception as a cultural norm throughout the years.

     According to "Sex and Contraception," modern forms of contraception such as the IUD, Norplant, DepoProvera, the patch, and some forms of the Pill are even abortifacients, meaning they work by causing an early term abortion. Yet as found on Planned Parenthood’s website, the IUD works by affecting how sperm moves and prevents it from joining with an egg, and some IUDs even stop ovulation, thus making this form of contraception not an abortifacient. The patch, the Pill, the shot (DepoProvera), and the implant (Norplant) all work in the same way as the IUDs, but they do thin the lining of the uterus which some people believe to inhibit pregnancy from occuring; this theory of early term abortion has no support.

     Between married couples the Church supports Natural Family Planning (NFP), abstaining from sex when fertile in the theory that this is not a violation of fertility. According to the pamphlet, married couples that practice NFP become more self-controlled, better communicators, more generous, experience greater love and intimacy and rarely divorce.

     At Saint Vincent College, the Wellness Center has a counselor from Life-way Pregnancy Center, a life-affirming organization of Latrobe, available every Monday from 10 until noon. Students are able to schedule an appointment with the Life-way counselor, Rebecca, at which they can receive free pregnancy test kits. The counselor will work with the student through her pregnancy and delivery, if necessary. She will refer students to an obstetrician for pre-natal care and delivery as well. According to the Wellness Center, Saint Vincent has had several babies born to student-moms and dads who found support through the Life-way and the Wellness Center.

      In addition to these services Life-way provides information to the prefects during formation each August, and will do residence hall “Sexual Integrity Presentations” on premarital sex and STDs. These programs are generally presented by a physician and questions are encouraged. The college personal counselors at the Wellness Center are also able to see students who may be/are pregnant to offer support. Abortions are not referred from the Wellness Center but students who may have had an abortion and are looking for help and support are welcomed with open arms by Life-way, personal counselors and campus ministry.
      Students who may think that they have an STD may visit the Wellness Center for a referral to the Department of Health in Greensburg to be tested confidentially for free. Students who may need gynecological care for STDs or who may require hormonal therapy for medical reasons are referred back to their gynecologist, but can be referred to a local gynecologist if necessary.

      The Wellness Center also offers various pamphlets and literature on post abortion trauma, risks in having premarital sex, condoms, oral sex, men and pregnancies, living together, and waiting for marriage. Agnostic freshman, Alexandria Correa went with her friend to visit the Life-way counselor Rebecca when her friend thought she might be pregnant. Correa was very upset with the way Rebecca treated her friend as well as herself during their session with her. According to Correa, Rebecca was unwilling to talk to the girls about ways to protect themselves from STDs and getting pregnant and insisted that the girls become “reborn virgins.” She then went off on a tangent about how she herself became pregnant in high school and then made the decision to become celibate until she later became married. She encouraged the girls to do the same.

     Correa also said that Rebecca told them that each time a woman has sex with a man he loses respect for her and that a man cannot love a woman he does not respect, therefore if they were to have sex with a man before marriage he would not respect or love them and that they would get divorced. When Correa asked about the correct and safest way to use condoms she was told that condoms are not a safe form of protection and that the best way to have safe sex is to have no sex. She then asked about how she could get on birth control or where to go to see a physician for birth control and was again told that the best form of birth control was abstinence. “All in all, I was very upset that she did not answer my questions for me, the world isn’t black and white and this day and age people like myself need to be educated so we do not make poor decisions” stated Correa.

     Correa’s friend who was there for a pregnancy test was also upset because she “felt like [she] had been treated like a promiscuous girl, and like [she] had been judged.”

       Spiritual freshman, and non-sexually active student Ashley Nichole feels that students should be able to be educated about sex should they ask. In fully educating students, she believes that it could help students who are having sex or thinking about having sex to make better decisions because more good decisions will come out of proper education as opposed to the strict abstinence program supported by the Wellness Center. “I feel problems such as STDs and unplanned pregnancies are more likely to be a result of ignorance about sex, and girls need to be educated and empowered to make good decisions,” stated Nichole.

       Many students look at Saint Vincent’s abstinence program as conservative and unrealistic and they think that other colleges hand out condoms and offer contraception to students. This assumption however is not correct. IUP and Seton Hill both have the same exact Life-way program that Saint Vincent does and they do not supply condoms or contraception to students unless a student needs hormonal therapy. Saint Francis does not have Life-way in their school, but has a very similar abstinence and life-affirming program offered to students. At Saint Francis condoms are not available to students on campus, neither is contraception. Counseling is available and there is a local STD clinic nearby that the students are referred to if necessary.

       In the heart of Pittsburgh, Duquesne, boasts about their strong abstinence program and a video that they show students entitled Love is Patience. When asked if Duquesne offered gynecological care, STD testing, condoms or hormonal therapy to students; their health director stated “part of the rules of the diocese and the policies of the Church prohibit all of that. You just can’t do that.” Meanwhile the Duquesne Health Center website states that gynecological care is provided on campus.

       On the opposite end of the spectrum, The University of Notre Dame’s full service health center does everything it can to educate and protect students under the policies of the Catholic Church. While the university does not supply condoms on campus for students, the pharmacy will prescribe hormonal therapy to girls who need it. The center also provides free pregnancy tests 24-7 and assist students taking the test to ensure accuracy and will support anyone who comes to pick one up or take one in the office. The center also offers STD testing on campus between the hours of 7:30 am and 5 pm.

      The center will refer students to local gynecologists for care and also has literature for interested students to read concerning sex, STDs, contraception, etc. Classes about STDs are also offered on campus. While the university would like to say that they do not treat STDs, it is not unusual at Notre Dame to have students seeking treatment from their center according to the Director of Health Services.

      Annie Kleva, the Director of The University of Notre Dame Health Services and member of the American College Health Committee explained that many Catholic institutions will not even offer the Gardasil shot which helps to protect against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which is a common viral infection that can be transmitted sexually, but is also transmitted in other, non-sexual ways. Notre Dame accounted for the fact that HPV is not solely an STD and is able to provide the Gardasil shot to men and women on campus under the Catholic guidelines, which it follows.

      Kleva also explained that the university, as a Catholic institution, needs to support the teachings of the Church, and that they view a curious student as an opportunity to educate about abstinence. However, if a student is sexually active and seeking gynecological care that Health Services will refer students to local gynecologists who will answer their questions and will write out prescriptions for contraception. “After all,” Kleva stated, “for us to say we are all saints, that’s just not true.”

      At The University of Notre Dame if a student becomes pregnant they are able to seek out many support groups and health services through the university’s Student Affairs Office and through the Health Center. The university does not refer abortions and is willing to help students do everything it takes to make a prolife choice and to have a healthy pregnancy. The university even works with students to help them stay in class while pregnant and to stay on track once the baby is born. They see the majority of student-mothers graduate in the expected 4-year time frame according to Kleva.

     While Saint Vincent may not seem to offer as many services as Notre Dame, both institutions offer the same basic services while still maintaining a Catholic outlook on premarital sex. According to Bob Baum, Director of Residence Life, at Saint Vincent “we recognize that our students come from a variety of backgrounds and belief systems, but they are attending a college affiliated with the Catholic Church, and it’s appropriate that a Catholic college would uphold church teachings, including about contraception.”

     Students should not feel ashamed to go to the Saint Vincent Wellness Center to ask for a pregnancy test, STD testing referral, or to be referred to a gynecologist. If students are ashamed or have an experience like that of Correa and feel as if all Rebecca from Life-way talked to you about is abstinence, then do not hesitate to refer to www.plannedparenthood.com for the facts on contraception, abstinence, sex, abortion, and links to local Planned Parenthood Centers (the closest to campus is in Somerset) or to refer to www.excelahealth.org to find information from Latrobe Regional Hospital, where the Women’s Health Centers offer obstetrician/gynecological offices.

     After all, “when it comes to your health, ignorance isn’t bliss.”