Sorry Poor People - No Condoms For You!
From the Heath section of today's WaPo: the embarrassing hassle of buying condoms in inner-city DC. Apparently, going back to the pre-AIDS era method of keeping prophylactics behind the counter wasn't enough - now CVS and most other drugstores & groceries are keeping the naughty stuff locked up.
When experts call condoms a barrier method of birth control, this isn't what they mean.
An informal survey found that almost half -- 22 of 50 -- of the District's CVS pharmacies lock up their condoms -- this in a city where one in 20 residents is HIV-positive. Most of those stores are in less affluent areas where the incidence of HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy -- all preventable with condoms -- are highest. Many CVS stores in the close-in Prince George's County suburbs also lock up condoms.
CVS, the leading drugstore chain in the Washington area, is not alone. Some Safeway and Giant stores in the District also lock up condoms, as do most Shopper's Food & Pharmacy Warehouse stores in the nearby suburbs. (Two chains that don't lock them up, no matter where their stores are located, are Rite-Aid and Eckerd.)
Some who work in public health are alarmed.
"Numerous barriers [to contraception] already exist -- particularly for minority populations," said Nestor Rocha, director of the Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, which hands out condoms for free. "To add to that that someone has to ask for them out loud in front of other customers is simply making it so that people who could benefit from the use of condoms will not."
Here's the heart of why the lock-up policy disturbs me:
Whatever the rationale, locking up condoms discourages their use.Christine Spencer-Grier, director of community education at Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, has seen that firsthand. She helps run a program that assists teen mothers in avoiding another pregnancy. One of the program's projects has the young moms venture out to buy condoms and report back on their experiences.
Spencer-Grier said many come back talking of being too embarrassed to buy once they saw they would have to ask for help. Others reported that, when they asked a salesperson for assistance, they got dirty looks or a lecture about being too young for sex.
"Teens are very sensitive to a disparaging look, a lecture -- all of those things are very intimidating," said Spencer-Grier. Many girls, she said, left the stores ashamed and empty-handed -- but still likely to have sex.
I remember having a serious pregnancy scare when I was 16/17 years old, and walking up and down the "Family Planning" aisle trying to work up the courage to pick up an unlocked pregnancy test. I was SCARED OUT OF MY MIND... and that was just to pick up the box and walk to the checkout line! If I'd had to page an employee to get the test for me... oh, hell no. I would have rather waited until I was "sure" I was pregnant one way or another. And what if I'd waited, and it turned out I was pregnant, but I'd waited too long to have an abortion or started the adoption process, etc? It's horrifying just to think about.
When experts call condoms a barrier method of birth control, this isn't what they mean.
An informal survey found that almost half -- 22 of 50 -- of the District's CVS pharmacies lock up their condoms -- this in a city where one in 20 residents is HIV-positive. Most of those stores are in less affluent areas where the incidence of HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy -- all preventable with condoms -- are highest. Many CVS stores in the close-in Prince George's County suburbs also lock up condoms.
CVS, the leading drugstore chain in the Washington area, is not alone. Some Safeway and Giant stores in the District also lock up condoms, as do most Shopper's Food & Pharmacy Warehouse stores in the nearby suburbs. (Two chains that don't lock them up, no matter where their stores are located, are Rite-Aid and Eckerd.)
Some who work in public health are alarmed.
"Numerous barriers [to contraception] already exist -- particularly for minority populations," said Nestor Rocha, director of the Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, which hands out condoms for free. "To add to that that someone has to ask for them out loud in front of other customers is simply making it so that people who could benefit from the use of condoms will not."
Here's the heart of why the lock-up policy disturbs me:
Whatever the rationale, locking up condoms discourages their use.Christine Spencer-Grier, director of community education at Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, has seen that firsthand. She helps run a program that assists teen mothers in avoiding another pregnancy. One of the program's projects has the young moms venture out to buy condoms and report back on their experiences.
Spencer-Grier said many come back talking of being too embarrassed to buy once they saw they would have to ask for help. Others reported that, when they asked a salesperson for assistance, they got dirty looks or a lecture about being too young for sex.
"Teens are very sensitive to a disparaging look, a lecture -- all of those things are very intimidating," said Spencer-Grier. Many girls, she said, left the stores ashamed and empty-handed -- but still likely to have sex.
I remember having a serious pregnancy scare when I was 16/17 years old, and walking up and down the "Family Planning" aisle trying to work up the courage to pick up an unlocked pregnancy test. I was SCARED OUT OF MY MIND... and that was just to pick up the box and walk to the checkout line! If I'd had to page an employee to get the test for me... oh, hell no. I would have rather waited until I was "sure" I was pregnant one way or another. And what if I'd waited, and it turned out I was pregnant, but I'd waited too long to have an abortion or started the adoption process, etc? It's horrifying just to think about.