The title doesn’t even say what pulling out is effective against. Pregnancy probably first comes to most minds, but what about sexually transmitted infections? The article states that the withdrawal method does not protect against STIs and the study only tested for effectiveness against pregnancy.

The first title on the front page is the most visible when people glance at the paper. I will bet that not everyone who saw that title read the full article and therefore left with an ambiguous and misleading idea.

Maybe the intent of the title was to encourage those who are using no preventative measures against pregnancy to, at the very least, use withdrawal. But what about those who use condoms only sometimes? Will they now be encouraged to withdraw more often because it has been found to be effective according to The State News?

Hopefully no one is looking to The State News as a trusted source for medical advice, but, unfortunately, sometimes what people hear and see in passing is all they consider when making judgments and decisions.

People, especially those on college campuses, in no way need to be encouraged that the withdrawal method is somehow a good way to prevent pregnancy.

The article, overall, effectively weighed both sides acknowledging that the method could be “better than nothing” and yet it is not recommended as the most effective way to protect against pregnancy. The original study even stated that “withdrawal might not be as effective as other methods.”

Though the article was informative and relevant, a far less suggestive and misleading title should have been chosen for a topic with potentially devastating consequences.

Lia Spaniolo

community, agriculture, recreation and resource studies graduate student