Abstinence is 100 percent effective

Democrat columnist Cynthia Tucker complains about "the ultraconservative fringe - those who insist sex is intended only for procreation." As an ultraconservative myself, I wonder what Tucker thinks sex is for. I mean, if sex were not for procreation, for what purpose do people use contraceptives?

I find myself in good company. Among the many ultraconservatives who understood procreation as being the purpose of sex are Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud. And yet, the woman has the effrontery to accuse ultraconservatives of distorting the science about condoms.

The failure rate of condoms has been found to be 15%. This means, that when condoms are used 100 times, they will fail 15 times. It only takes one failure to produce a baby. Among a thousand persons using a condom on the same day, 150 will fail. Some percentage of the women involved will be in their fertile periods and conceive.

Perhaps, the 15% figure exaggerates the case. Let's assume it is 5%. That translates into 50 failures and some inevitable pregnancies. I do not think such odds are acceptable to reasonable people. Abstinence works 100 percent of the time. Ask Darwin.

George Kocan

Warrenville