Yay for abstinence!

Laura Bush was in Africa, and do you know what topic she addressed? Abstinence! She talked about how absitnence needed to be promoted in Africa to help curb the AIDS epidemic. She said condoms weren't the answer!

"’I'm always a little bit irritated when I hear the criticism of abstinence, because abstinence is absolutely 100 percent effective in eradicating a sexually transmitted disease,’" Mrs. Laura Bush said.

"’In a country or a part of the world where one in three people have a sexually transmitted deadly disease, you have to talk about abstinence, you really have to,’ she said. ‘In many countries where girls feel obligated to comply with the wishes of men, girls need to know that abstinence is a choice.’"

Mrs. Bush was in Africa for Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s inauguration as the first elected female president in Africa.

Reporters asked her why US President George W. Bush and she defended abstinence. One reporter said that it sounded too much like "’Christian moralism.’" That kind of questioning elicited Mrs. Bush sound response.

There are those who would push condoms rather than abstinence. Realism: many don’t use condoms when they’re put in their hands. Each sex encounter demands a new condom. How many condoms are going to be distributed daily to each sexually active African? Who is going to dole out the millions of condoms? How do condoms help the female coerced into sex when the male may use the condom on the first try and then abandon condoms in other intrusions?

In other words, Mrs. Bush’s response is absolutely accurate. Abstinence is 100 percent effective "in eradicating a sexually transmitted disease." That is fact. It is fact. That is fact.

According to The Washington Times’ Bill Sammon: "She also said AIDS can be curbed by the correct use of condoms and by being faithful to one's partner.

"Mrs. Bush is leading the U.S. delegation, which also includes her daughter Barbara and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to today's swearing-in of Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf, a U.S.-educated economist and former World Bank official.

"’We're really, really excited to be at such a historic inauguration,’ Mrs. Bush told reporters en route to Africa.

"’Because traditionally, women have been excluded in many African cultures -- not all of them, but in many.’

"The first lady said Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf ‘serves as a very important role model for little girls on the continent, as well as around the world.’ The Bush administration hopes the inauguration will mark a turning point for Liberia, which was wracked by violence that killed about 250,000 people from 1989 to 2003. Since then, a transitional government has ruled the continent's oldest republic, which was established in 1847 by freed American slaves.

"Mrs. Bush said the new president can begin the healing process in earnest and pledged U.S. help to rebuild the war-ravaged nation.

"’She ran on a platform of reconciliation and reconstruction, and it's going to take the help of a lot of countries, including the United States, which has a special relationship with Liberia, for her and the people of Liberia to be able to do the reconstruction they need,’ she said."

Copyright © 2006 by J. Grant Swank, Jr.

(MichNews.com)