When condoms are not on a plate

I cannot let the letter from Sister Annunciate Forde (September 9) go without comment.

She refers to the many issues here and abroad that the Irish Examiner could be covering instead of having pictures of condoms on a plate at a graduation ball in Cork (September 3). Well, I’ve got news for sister – we need to talk about sex.

I recently spent time in Uganda on a study trip with other young decision-makers from across Europe. We were there to find out ...

* Why women have seven children on average?

* Why the HIV/Aids rate is increasing again?

* Why between two and six women die every day from unsafe abortions? nWhy every woman has a one-in-25 lifetime risk of dying giving birth?

* Why only 18% of the population use contraception?

* Why 41% of the population want to use contraception but can’t access it?

* Why more than 80,000 women end up in hospital every year from complications arising from unsafe abortion?

* Why only 40% of the millions of women giving birth have access to a healthcare professional while doing so?

Sexual and reproductive rights are issues all too often brushed under the carpet for religious and cultural reasons and this needs to stop.

Here in Ireland it has the effect of forcing 5,000 women a year out of the State to seek a remedy for a crisis pregnancy and, more importantly for our young people, it means sex education is severely lacking in terms of quantity and quality. Across the world, it means millions of women are dying every day.

Sister, with all due respect, wake up and smell the coffee – sex is an issue that we need to talk about.

The problem was not a picture of a condom – the problem was the coverage did not discuss the issues in sufficient depth.

Linda Kelly

Union of Students in Ireland

St Agnes Road

Crumlin

Dublin 12