By the time Roe vs. Wade became the law of the land in 1970, I was already married, with three children.  Consequently, I spent my entire adolescence and early twenties at a time when most  girls were virgins.  There was plenty of “making out” and “fooling around.” However,  young women  were dead set on preserving their virginity.  Because a baby born out of wedlock was a disgrace–not only to the mother, but her entire family.   Obviously, the fear of pregnancy was a powerful deterrent to pre-marital sex.  Yes, some did get pregnant, which meant they had shotgun weddings or were sent off on long vacations to stay with faraway relatives.  But after 1970,  women could sleep around the same as men did, knowing they didn’t have to give birth  if contraceptives failed.  Now, that’s all liable to change.  Will virginity make a comeback?

Reading  obituaries of women over 80, and you will see that most of them married young.  Co-eds met their husbands in college.  If a guy wanted a regular bed partner, he was supposed to get married.    How many college students get married today? Living together without the benefit of matrimony  is the norm.

If you watch any of the streaming services like Netflix, you know that teenagers are expected to have sex as soon as they’re able.  Men and women hook up  with complete strangers .  Comedian Amy Poehler once bragged in a magazine article that she’d had sex with countless  men.  She even described  spotting  a handsome  man at an airport, finding a room to have very hot  sex, then walking away without ever seeing him again.  Did she worry about getting pregnant?  Of course not.

Before I go any further, let me say that I’m definitely pro-choice.  My husband was a campus minister who put his career and reputation on the line to help women get abortions when it was illegal in Indiana..    I don’t believe in having  unwanted children, for obvious reasons.

However,  before 1970,  few had to worry about getting sexually transmitted diseases.  And I’m not sure how I would have felt  after a series of short term love  affairs that didn’t end happily ever after.  Men should prepare themselves:  free sex will no longer be quite so free.

Some journalists report  that people are starting to be afraid of having sex. So what’s going to happen in states where abortion is illegal?    Will virginity make a comeback?