Marie Cocco is correct in her July 5 column, “The failures of abstinence,” when she writes that sex education based on science works better than a faith-based program of abstinence and rejection of contraceptives. I agree with Cocco when she writes that the elimination of funding for abstinence-only educational programs is only a first step.

What’s needed is a culture where women are allowed to take charge of their own bodies and control their own life decisions; where relationships are entered into voluntarily based on mutual respect and equality. What’s needed is a critical examination of the male-dominated social system that treats women as sex objects and fosters domestic violence. What’s needed is the rejection of the idea that only motherhood can bring happiness.

Until then, women and men should have unfettered access to sexual health clinics and the doctors who operate them should be allowed to practice without fear of violence.

Doug Smiley

Indianapolis