STD Rates High Among College Students

STD Rates High Among College Students
By Erika Rohrssen
Published: Wednesday, April 27, 2005


The growth of sexually transmitted diseases has become increasingly larger among college students in the United States. According to the New York State Department of Health, one in five teens gets a sexually transmitted disease each year in the United States. Also, the Alan Guttmacher Institute in New York stated that, "nationally, nearly one million young women under age 20 become pregnant each year. That means close to 2800 teens get pregnant each day." Although these statistics are escalating each year, many Catholic institutions do not provide students with the forms of contraception that can help prevent these statistics from increasing.

Manhattan College justifies its reasoning not to provide condoms or any other form of birth control to its students by standing behind the teachings of the Catholic Church, that it is a sin to engage in sexual activity before marriage.

In an informal survey on the Quad 39 students out of 45 students admitted to engaging in sexual activity while on campus, even though this is against the rules of Manhattan College. In this same survey, students were asked, "Do you think the nurse should provide condoms and the morning after pill?" The majority of the students polled, 39, said that they felt the nurse should provide these forms of contraception; three of these students were also students that said they did not engage in sexual activity while living on campus. One sexually active student said that the nurse should not provide these forms of contraception; four students chose not to comment on the subject, and another wrote in that while condoms should be provided, the morning after pill should not.

According to the Manhattan College's nurse practitioner, Katherine Kyle, the reason Manhattan does not provide contraception is not provided because, "it is the policy of Manhattan that students should not be engaging in sexual activity while on campus." While the Health Services Staff is not permitted to provide any form of contraception, Kyle reinforced the fact that, "students can come and talk to me about any problems that they are experiencing or with any questions they need me to answer to increase their own knowledge on the subject [of STD's or pregnancy]." Kyle also stated that she answers questions about sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies at least once a week, but she added, "It is usually a lot more than that."