DR. WALLACE: A group of my friends are planning to join a huge pro-choice rally at a shopping center parking lot. I've never discussed my feelings on this debate with my friends, but I'm pro-life. They are asking me to join the rally, but I said I would let them know a little later. I am not going to be in the pro-choice rally, but I don't know how to tell them I won't be there. I could lie and tell them that I had to visit my ill grandmother with my parents, or make up some other lie. Please tell me what you think would be the best solution to this "sticky" problem. I could show up for an hour and then become "ill" and go home. —Nameless, Boston, Mass.

kNAMELESS: Tell your friends that you won't join the rally because you are pro-life. Don't get into a debate, and ask them to please honor your opinion. Good friends have much in common, but they also have opinions that are personal and differ with the majority.

SCHOOL NURSE HAS THE ANSWER

DR. WALLACE: My boyfriend and I are contemplating starting a loving sexual relationship. It's highly important that I don't become pregnant. Can you please tell me how effective it is for the female to be on "the pill"? How about the effectiveness of a condom used by my boyfriend? We are both 16 years old. —Nameless, Gary, Ind.

NAMELESS: Some time ago a certified school nurse in Rio, Ill., provided the following information for me to inform a young Ohio lady who had very similar questions:

"The pill is not a 100 percent guarantee that the taker will not become pregnant. Recent figures suggest it has a 3 percent to 7 percent failure rate, meaning that if 100 women use the pill correctly, between three and seven who are sexually active will become pregnant.

Even more importantly, the pill is absolutely no protection against sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, chlamydia, cytomegalovirus, venereal warts and HIV/AIDS. The pill also will not protect your emotions if, after a while, your boyfriend finds someone new and exciting he'd like to be involved with instead of you.

If you were thinking of using condoms, you should know that they have about a 13 percent to 18 percent failure rate for preventing pregnancy. And condoms are even less effective for preventing the spread of STDs. Condoms sometimes break, and they must be used correctly. It has also been discovered that there are natural channels existing in latex (studied in latex gloves, though, not condoms) that are from five times to 25 times as large as the HIV virus — so condoms can fail in several ways.

The best protection against unwed pregnancy and venereal diseases, as well as the best way to protect one's emotions and good self-concept, is to abstain from having sexual relations until marriage and remain mutually faithful for life. In our "anything goes" society, this has not been a popular concept, but any young person would do well to make a considered decision based on this evidence." —Certified School Nurse, Rio, Ill.

SCHOOL NURSE: Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts with our young readers. Being a former high school administrator, I place great faith in the wisdom of school nurses.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.