Want to know where to get tested for STI's and STD's?
Call A CENTER FOR WOMEN at (407) 628-5433
If you're pregnant, STI's and STD's can affect your baby, too!
An STD can also make it impossible for you to have a baby when you want to someday.
E-mail us to request a free powerpoint presentation regarding STD's.

           By best calculations, professional sex educators in the United States estimate that
--no matter how many reality shows or "Girls Next Door" or "Sex in the City" episodes air--
fewer than 25% of all men and women, married and unmarried, of all ages,
have a completely accurate understanding of female fertility and male fertility
and the prevalence of STI's (sexually transmitted infections) in our society. 

Worried that you might have an STD or HIV?  Use this online tool from
the Center for Disease Control to find the nearest testing agent to where you live:
HIV and STD Testing Resource Sites

  Feeling lucky?  Ready to gamble with your future? 
  Consider these odds:
 
  *More than 20% of Americans over the age of 12 are already
   infected with genital herpes.

  *65% of those who will get an STD this year will be under 25.

  *80% of those infected with an STI have no symptoms
                                                    and do not know they are currently infected.

      *The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta reported in 2007 that there is a 46% chance 
        that a young woman will contract HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) the first time she has sex.
              Scary new information about HPV-caused throat and oral cancer & oral sex  >  >  >  >

                          Those who postpone sexual activity until they can have a committed, faithful relationship
                   (like marriage!) with an uninfected partner are completely protected from STI's (sexually
                   transmitted infections), from the infertility complications which can arise from them, and from
                   nonmarital pregnancy. If this behavior choice -- "abstinence until marriage" for short -- were
                   to become the norm, it is likely that all STI epidemics would be reversed. This is the real cure
                   for the epidemics of STI's in our world.  See our "Sexual Exposure" risk chart page > > > >

What's the difference between an STI and an STD?

Medical Institute's STD Wizard ~ find out your odds of having an STI >  >  >

Ramah International's Quick Facts Page on STD's  >  >  >  >

What's the relationship between STD's and STI's and fertility?

                  Several STI's have virtually no symptoms when initially contracted, so no steps are taken
           to prevent them from developing into the full-blown diseases or from having permanent effects
           on the reproductive systems of both women and men.  Because of the nature of the female
           reproductive system, the infertility effects are greater and irreversible.

                                          Here's how that works in just one type of infection: 

                    According to the Center for Disease Control's report to the federal government on
            the subject of the effects of Chlamydia infections on young women, untreated Chlamdial
            infections result in severe and costly health issues for young women in particular.  One of
            these results is Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), a major cause of infertility and one of the 
            primary causes of life-threatening ectopic (tubal) pregnancy.

                    As many as 40% of women with untreated Chlamydia infections will develop full PID with
             its accompanying debilitating chronic pelvic pain and the inability to conceive.  Of those with
             PID, 20% will become infertile; 18% will experience disabling chronic pain; 9% will have at
             least one life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.

                    Untreated Chlamydia infection is also bad news for babies born to mothers with it:  they
             can be born with eye infections and pneumonia.  And this is just one of more than a dozen
             STD's which are known to impact fertililty and neonatal health.

   Some STD-STI Myths & Fairy Tales:  

• You have to have sexual intercourse to get an STD.           
• Certain people can't get STI's.                                               
• If you are clean and well-groomed, you can't get an STD. 
• You can easily tell if someone has an STD.                        
• STI's are easily treatable.                                                      

                     Statements like these are false!  Anyone can catch an STD, no matter what they look
       like, where they live or what their income level.  In addition, symptoms are often invisible, making
       it impossible for you to know for sure if someone has an STD or an STI.  And infertility is one 
       of the possible consequences for your failure to protect your reproductive system from infection. 
       It really is a gamble with your future, isn't it?

                     So, now some facts about Fertility Awareness among adults -- and, naturally,
              this awareness is even less among teens.  Women tend to be better informed on
              the subject than men.   Several studies done by international natural family planning
              groups from 1990 through 1999 yielded the following:

• Most women don't know how many days a month a woman is fertile.
  (7-9 is the right answer.)
• 25% of women didn't understand what was happening inside their bodies on the day
  they begin each menstrual cycle.
• 35% of women and men answered incorrectly to this question: 
  True or false -- A woman runs a risk of getting pregnant each and every time she has intercourse. 
  (True is the right answer. This has to do with how many days sperm can stay alive
  inside a woman after intercourse, how irregular her ovulatory cycle is, and a number
  of other factors.)

If you want more answers to specific questions about human fertility or 
how STD's can impact your fertility, please contact our educators and counselors:
A CENTER FOR WOMEN      (407) 628-5433
Free Pregnancy Testing + Free Pregnancy Support Services & Counseling
Walk-in hours:  9:30am - 4pm