| Sure, and being poor is probably linked to higher rates of STDs too. Oh and alcohol use... and... and... The problem with the unsubstantiated claim (besides the fact) is that it ignores the broad public health picture (what's worse, 5 more people/year get herpes or 5 unwanted babies in trash cans?) and injects, frankly, useless information and FUD into the conversation. It's done so intentionally to attach negative externalities that are truth-y to a topic when their relevance and impact are quite trivial. What I mean here is that this may cause an increase (again on the OP to substantiate this claim) of .0001% in general STD contraction, but in a given paragraph the "fact" is given much more weight than it otherwise deserves precisely because the numbers aren't provided - each piece of the claim has equal grammatical weight. Cognitively, without the numbers (and probably with them even), you associate birth control negative externalities with "INCREASE IN STDS11!!" and now all of a sudden you find that since you are opposed to increases in STD contraction now you are sort of on the fence and maybe opposed to birth control. "Just use a condom" (until we find some problem with those) and then it becomes "just don't have sex unless you want a baby". This may seem conspiratorial but these are very specific debate and discussion tactics used by others to slowly chip away at rights and freedoms that we enjoy which is why it's important to call out items like this and require that if someone is going to make a claim they should provide factual evidence supporting that claim. Until that's done, I'm going to claim that birth control decreases STD rates. |