
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 6, 1995                   TAG: 9502080009
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: G. DOUGLAS LARSEN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

POLICIES PROMOTE IRRESPONSIBLE SEX

ELLEN Goodman's Jan. 24 column, ``Most poor moms didn't plan it,'' gives the statistics that 60 percent to 76 percent of pregnancies in the United States are unplanned. I've been working as a public-health department physician for 15 years, and have direct responsibilities for providing care to our maternity clients.

If I ask our clients whether theirs was a planned or unplanned pregnancy, the vast majority (almost 90 percent) will say ``unplanned.'' If I stopped there, my experience would agree with Goodman's conclusion.

However, I don't stop there. I ask a second question: ``What method of birth control failed?'' Generally, there's a pause or no response at first, but then many different expressions come out. ``Well, none'' is the most common. ``I ran out of my birth-control pills'' is another. ``We forgot to use the condom,'' etc.

I continue with another question: ``I understand you to say you had unprotected intercourse, is that right?'' Almost always, ``yes'' is their reply. ``You knew that unprotected intercourse would or could cause a pregnancy, true?'' Their answer: ``Yes, I knew that.'' My response is, ``Well, then to me this sounds like a planned pregnancy.'' Then I wait, and almost always the answer is, ``Well, yes.''

For decades, our governmental policies have helped create the rising numbers of single mothers and teens becoming pregnant, and all the unwanted anti-social behavior that accompanies this. The pain and suffering inflicted on those involved, and on society as a whole, cannot be measured. I know that if all the programs weren't available to our single mothers (Women, Infants, Children; Aid to Dependent Children; Medicaid; governmental housing, to name a few), there'd be a huge and immediate reduction of illegitimate births.

Let's stop promoting behavior that is self-destructive, and use our resources to encourage the behavior that is desired: graduation from high school, trade school, business schools, college, etc.

To end all these self-defeating policies would surely cause pain and suffering to those unassisted at first. But we spend or give billions of dollars now, and there's pain and suffering. (For example, 80-plus percent of our prison inmates from 1980 through 1986 came from single teen parents.) Our policies have created dependency, which is wrong. I have confidence, since most pregnancies are planned, more responsible action in having children would occur if no help were available.

G. Douglas Larsen of Lexington is a physician for the Virginia Department of Health, Central Shenandoah Health District.

by CNB