PIP: Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-CO) chairs the House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families which just issued a report titled: A Decade of Denial: Teens and AIDS in America. In the report, abstinence is seen as the best protection against AIDS; but, it is unrealistic to think teenagers are not going to have sex. Therefore, they should have free and ready access to condoms in their schools. The report claims that a decade long campaign of abstinence has failed, teenage pregnancy and STD rates are rising. This report fails to understand that our culture does not in fact encourage abstinence. Virgins are rarities because social pressure to have sex is so great that even the threat of AIDS is not enough to stop them. However, giving them condoms will only make the situation worse. If teenagers who used drugs were given free needles, they would continue their drug habits. In the same light, if teenagers are given condoms, they will continue to have sex. If condoms are hard to get, there is a deterrent to have sex, just as clean needle would deter teens from using drugs. According to William Bennett, the problem is cultural in nature. Teenagers seek answers and our society only gives them options. Cultural pressure was used to change drunk driving from accepted behavior to criminal behavior. Cultural pressure could be used to change teen age sexual habits and giving them condoms is not the right kind of pressure.