What Teens Don’t Know Can Kill : A Heterosexual Epidemic Lurks in Their Denial of Being at Risk for AIDS

The decision of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference to give qualified support to providing information about condoms in AIDS education programs is a welcome acknowledgement that this terrible disease cannot be controlled only by talk of morality and abstinence.

For adults in the United States it is clear that gay and bisexual men, intravenous drug users and the sexual partners of all three will remain at the highest risk for AIDS for the next several years. If there is no effective cure or vaccine soon and if AIDS remains with us for another generation, which certainly is possible, then whether it becomes a major threat to the heterosexual population will be largely determined by how widespread the virus becomes among teen-agers.

If it does indeed become widespread, the situation in this country in 10 to 15 years could begin looking like that in Africa today.

Adolescents clearly practice behaviors that put them at risk for AIDS: One-half of the boys and one-third of the girls in the nation’s high schools have had sexual intercourse, starting on average at age 16. The Center for Population Options also conservatively estimates that about 200,000 teen-agers have used IV drugs.

Two recent articles in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. supported the scope of risk: Among never-married white teen-age girls ages 15 to 19, the percentage who had intercourse increased from 28% to 40% from 1974 to 1983. For black teenage girls the figure stayed about 58%. In a survey conducted in 1985 of 10th-graders from four Northern California high schools, a frightening 9.6% of the boys and 6.7% of the girls had used LSD, PCP or heroin at least once. How many teen-agers eventually use drugs intravenously is of course unknown. But it is likely that first-time teen users will share needles, putting them at considerable risk for AIDS.

While it is possible to understand the denial among teen-agers that AIDS can happen to them, it seems incredible that so many parents refuse to believe that their children will be sexually active or use IV drugs at least once.

One of the outspoken voices saying that the solution to the AIDS threat for teen-agers is abstinence is that of presidential candidate Rev. Pat Robertson. In acknowledging his premarital sex experience he said: “I have never ever indicated that in the early part of my life I didn’t sow some wild oats. I sowed plenty of them. But I also said that Jesus Christ came into my life, changed my life and forgave me.”

Unfortunately for the teen-agers of 1987, the AIDS virus does not forgive. Infection with the virus is, with possible extremely rare exceptions, believed to last for life. It is difficult to understand why Robertson believes that today’s teen-agers will listen any better to pleas for abstinence than he did in the 1950s when premarital sex was less socially acceptable.

The loudest voice in the Reagan Administration opposing teaching about condoms for those who are sexually active is that of Education Secretary William J. Bennett. It was wonderful to hear him defend the imperfections of youth when he talked about one-time Supreme Court nominee Judge Douglas Ginsburg. Bennett said, “Take a man in the totality of his acts. Youthful indiscretions are allowed. Doesn’t the Bible itself say we all sinned . . . seven times a day? We’re sinners.” Today’s youth are also imperfect. Many will have male homosexual sex, premarital sex or use IV drugs.

We must do everything to protect those who “sin” from AIDS. I have never heard Bennett oppose saying to teen-agers, “Don’t drink, but if you do drink don’t risk killing yourself or someone else by driving.” That message neither condones nor promotes drinking.

So the message of the 1980s and 1990s must be: Practice no sex that could spread AIDS. If you are sexually active and either you or your partner could be infected, use a condom and a spermicide properly all the time. And If you use IV drugs, don’t share needles or equipment.

This message ideally should be given by all parents to their children. However, since most parents find it difficult to discuss sex and drugs, it falls on the schools. Because of the teen-agers’ capacity for denial, repetitive teaching about AIDS is critical, and it must include not only advice to use condoms but also demonstrations about how they should be used. Sessions on how to discuss low-risk sex with sexual partners also are an important part of this education process.

The real AIDS threat to the future of America is that the view of Pat Robertson and William Bennett prevails. Thus most schools don’t have effective education/prevention programs for AIDS.

To paraphrase an observer of the relatively good response of the British government to AIDS: Until the Reagan Administration and state and local politicians stop worrying about saving souls and start worrying about saving lives, the youth of America will be at much greater risk from AIDS than they need be.