Yes, this is a particularly controversial topic. If you have a problem with my opinions, take it up with the comment box.

As this is a blog about college, religion is something I wouldn't normally post about here. However, the topic recently came to my attention while talking to a couple friends of mine.

We were talking about the availability of health and sex-related services on our respective campuses. All of us in this conversation are still virgins so for us, it's more about the hypothetical necessity and less of a practical need, but for many incoming freshmen, the access to STD screenings, gynecological services and more importantly, birth control, is crucial. One of my friends is going to Boston College which, as you may known, is a Jesuit-affiliated school. (Jesuits are a division of Catholics.) It shocked me that they do not have any form of birth control offered on campus.

Now before you get all up in arms about the whole thing, I was raised Catholic. I am familiar with the church's disapproval of pre-marital sex, but I also have a very liberal mother who always taught me that while the church may frown upon it, she lives in this century and realizes that it will happen. She always told me that when I felt I was ready to have sex, she would take me to the doctors and get me the pill. She stressed that it shouldn't be a decision entered into lightly and that I should put a lot of care and consideration into making it.

That being said, BC is not a Catholic exclusive school. There are non-Catholics that attend. According to their website, they do offer STI, HIV and prenancy testing and will provide "non-judgemental counseling". They will not, however, "provide materials for the purpose of preventing conception or counsel that would encourage abortion." Though Catholic University of America does not clearly state their birth control policy as BC does, they do say, "Medical care provided and advice given is consistent with teachings of the Catholic Church."

It seems to me that both these schools are not serving their student body as they should be. They are imposing the Catholic beliefs on all that attend, whether or not they subscribe to the religion. Sex is something that will happen on all college campuses; it's just not preventable. Most students I know are going there for the quality education the school provides and not necessarily because they agree with the traditions of the Catholic church.

I'm sorry, but I think these schools are doing a severe disservice to their students who are paying $50,000 a year and are subscribing to their health plan by not providing them a means of contraception. Teenagers and young adults WILL HAVE SEX. It's a fact of life. Making contraception harder to access won't deter them from doing it, it'll just make them more likely to have unprotected sex.

Although I suppose that by going to these schools and others like them, you agree to accept their policies and simply have to deal with the lack of contraception. It's not for me, though. If I decide to have sex while in college, there is no way in hell I'm getting pregnant or getting an STD. Condoms and the pill for me, thanks. I'll take my sex without the life-lasting consequences.