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Access full C.E. document »

WARNING: In order to completely and accurately describe the subject matter, this document contains explicit information about human sexuality which is not appropriate for minors or for persons who are morally vulnerable to such material.

Table of Contents:

Sources of Information
Introduction: Basic Concepts
............The Underlying Problem
............Types of Condoms
............Definition of Terms
The Primary Danger -- Not Pores, But Catastrophic Failure
............Overview
............The Studies
Condoms and Leakage
............The Primary Point to Remember
............A Complicated Question
............An Engineering Analysis of an SEM Image
Condoms and the Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Teenagers and Condoms
............The New York Times Speaks
............Rebuttal by the Alan Guttmacher Institute
............Results of School Condom Studies
International Case Studies Showing Condom Ineffectiveness Against HIV/AIDS
............Uganda
The Philippines and Thailand
............`Abstinence has a High Failure Rate’
............They Simply Refuse to “Get It”
............Lying in Order to Sell Condoms
Conclusion: Of Parachutes and Prophylactics
............The Family Planners `Speak’
Recommended Reading on Condoms
Endnotes

Sources of Information.

This document is a compendium and summary of the latest scientific information about the most widely-used contraceptive device in the world today -- the male condom. This summary draws from many sources, but focuses primarily on medical journals.

This summary is intended to be a resource for those who need straightforward, simple and concise facts about condoms.

Further pro-life sources of information on condoms, readily available on the Internet, are listed at the end of this document.

For further information, please contact Human Life International, 4 Family Life, Front Royal, Virginia 22630, U.S.A., e-mail address: hli@hli.org, Web site: http://www.hli.org, telephone: (540) 635-7884 or 1-(800) 549-LIFE.

Introduction: Basic Concepts.

The Underlying Problem. It is common knowledge among health professionals that sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), some of which are incurable and/or fatal, have found fertile ground to multiply in societies that permit and even celebrate all forms of permissive sex. Unfortunately, most people, for fear of appearing “backwards” or “repressive,” treat this glaringly obvious fact like a basilisk -- they dare not look at it or even speak about it.

The response of most `developed’ world governments at every level, and the reaction of various social service agencies to this explosion of STDs, was as predictable as it was pitiful: They took the inherently Humanistic position that Americans (not just teenagers) are mere animals. Since they can’t be trusted to control their sexual urges, we might as well make it as safe for them as possible to have sex with whomever they please.

The government’s weapons of choice were not chastity and monogamy, but `education’ and condoms. Even Bill Clinton’s Surgeon General, Joycelyn Elders, sported a “rubber tree” on her desk -- festooned, of course, with condoms.

And so, with intriguing names like “Arouse,” “Embrace,” “Excita,” and “Pleaser,” condoms crowd pharmacy shelves and restroom walls, leering at potential users and proclaiming the merits of “family planning” and “safe sex” on their vividly colored packages.

Unfortunately, members of the public uncritically accept the government and the condom manufacturers at their word. And nobody (except a few pro lifers, who are universally ignored) seems to be asking the most vital question of all.

If condoms are so effective at preventing pregnancy and AIDS transmission, why do nations that stress their use continue to experience a rapidly escalating rate of teen pregnancy and an exploding AIDS epidemic?

Due to the highly charged aspects of the issues related to contraception (i.e., school based clinics, the teen pregnancy “epidemic,” and the spread of AIDS), there is much conflicting information on the effectiveness of the most commonly used nonpermanent true contraceptive method in the world the male condom at preventing pregnancy, AIDS, and sexually transmitted diseases.

In order to conduct an intelligent conversation on this topic, we must first review a few basic facts.

Types of Condoms. Three types of male condoms are commonly available today;

1. By far the most commonly used condoms are made from natural rubber latex. These are the most effective at preventing pregnancy and STDs, and make up about 97 percent of all condom sales in the United States.
2. A small number of condoms are made from the intestinal caecum of lambs, and are called “natural skin,” “natural membrane” or “lambskin” condoms. Experts generally agree that skin condoms are not effective as latex condoms at preventing AIDS and STDs.
3. A third type, generally becoming more available, are the condoms made from synthetic materials including polyurethane. These are more resistant to deterioration than latex condoms and are generally believed to provide a similar level of protection against pregnancy and STDs [1].

Definition of Terms. The book Contraceptive Technology is the most authoritative source of information on all methods of birth control in the world today. This two-inch thick book is often referred to as the “family planner’s bible,” and is revised every few years in order to include updated information. The latest edition was published in 2004, and it is considered by family planners to be the “last word” on all matters contraceptive.

Family planners use four terms when referring to the failure rate of a contraceptive or abortifacient method;

1. The “efficacy” of a birth control method refers to the protection its users receive under ideal conditions.
2. The “effectiveness” of a method refers to the protection its users receive under actual conditions of use, and includes user error.
3. The “method failure rate” refers to malfunctions of the method itself when a couple use it perfectly. For condoms, the method failure rate is two percent. This does not mean that two percent of condom uses will result in pregnancy. It means that, if there are one hundred couples that use a condom perfectly over an entire year of use, only two will experience pregnancy. Since the average couple in the United States has sexual intercourse 83 times a year, this means that, among one hundred perfect method users, there will be two pregnancies for every 8,300 uses of the condom.
4. The “user failure rate” reflects not perfect use, but typical use, and includes all user errors. According to Contraceptive Technology, 15 of 100 typical condom-using couples will experience pregnancy within the first year of use.[2]

The basic problem is as follows. No matter how much `safe(r) sex’ education is taught, no matter how many bowls of free condoms are left in plain view, and no matter how much contraceptive marketing is propagated, there are a number of mechanical and human factors that simply cannot be controlled [3];

• Condoms break and slip off;
• They age. One study found that the breakage rate for condoms increased from 3.6% for new condoms to as high as 18.6% for condoms several years old.[4]
• They deteriorate in even the best of conditions, but even more rapidly in extremely cold or hot situations. Condom wrappers recommend storing the product at temperatures between 59 and 88 degrees Fahrenheit. One researcher found that, at major condom distribution points in New Jersey and New York, boxes of condoms were left outdoors in the ice and snow during the dead of winter. During the summer months, the researcher took photographs of eggs frying on the floors of dozens of trucks and containers where condoms were stored in temperatures exceeding 180 degrees.[5] High temperatures cause oxidation and freezing temperatures cause crystallization in some of the chemical compounds that make up condoms, leading to cracking, drying, shrinking and drastic loss of flexibility and strength. Keep in mind that condoms exported from the United States sit in uninsulated shipping containers in extreme weather conditions for even longer periods of time;
• If taken out of the package and left unused for a long period of time, they are liable to ozone deterioration, which causes damage invisible to the eye;
• Improper use of oil-based lubricants can degrade them;
• They get broken in their packages;
• They have allowed rates of manufacturing defects. The present acceptable quality limit (AQL) for North American condom manufacturers is 99.6% of condoms free of leaks. The British AQL is 97%, and the Dutch AQL is 96.5%;
• The users are caught up in passion and do not properly follow the ten- to sixteen-step process for safe usage [6];
• The users are compromised by the use of alcohol, marijuana, illegal drugs, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, or exhaustion; and
• Bodily secretions can get around and over a condom even if it performs perfectly.

The Primary Danger -- Not Pores, But Catastrophic Failure.

“Counting on condoms is flirting with death.”
Dr. Helen Singer Kaplan, founder of the Human Sexuality Program at the New York Weill Cornell Medical Center, Cornell University.[7]

Overview.

Although latex condoms appear to occasionally be permeable to the AIDS virus, by far the greatest danger of infection lies in their propensity to burst, tear and slip off.

Even if only a few HIV viruses did pass through a porous condom, the risk of infection would still be extremely small; but in those cases where condoms fail catastrophically, massive exposure to the HIV virus is inevitable. In cases of failure during intercourse with an HIV infected person, there is the distinct possibility of a protracted and extremely unpleasant death.

The Studies. The frequency of condom breakage depends upon many factors, including the type of lubricant used and the brand of condom. Contraceptive Technology tallied the results of fifteen studies involving a total of 25,184 condoms used during heterosexual intercourse and found that 4.64 percent of all of the condoms broke and 3.44 percent of them partially or completely slipped off, for a total of 8.08 percent, or about one in twelve.[8]

Figure 1 is a summary of these studies.

Summary of Studies:

• Average breakage rate of all condoms:
  1,168/25,184 = 4.64%
• Average slippage rate of all condoms:
  636/18,495 = 3.44%
• Total failure rate of all condoms: 8.08%
  
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