DEAR ABBY: While cleaning out some drawers, I discovered a column of yours I had clipped years ago. I'm now saving it for my great-grandchildren.
Your column has helped lots of people, and perhaps this item can save other teen-agers many heartaches and problems if you print it again. Thanks. –- A GREAT-GRANDMA FROM INDIANA
DEAR GREAT-GRANDMA: You're right. It contains information every teen-ager should know –- so here it is for young people who don't think things through before they do "everything but" or become sexually active:
DEAR ABBY: I weep every time I read a letter from a pregnant teen-ager pleading for help. So few people know that the sex act need not be completed for a female to become pregnant.
I was a medic in the service. When I got married, my ward doctor loaned me a medical book that he'd used in counseling young people. From that book, I learned that when a man becomes excited, a few drops of neutralizing fluid are released to neutralize any uric acid in the male urinary canal. It is nature's way of clearing a safe path for the delicate sperm cells to pass through at termination of the sex act.
Lab tests have shown that occasionally a few sperm cells are present in the fluid. This occurs most frequently in teen-agers, since that is when the male is at the peak of fertility.
Abby, please warn young people that if they plan to go beyond kissing and holding hands, they should take all necessary measures a couple would or should take in preventing pregnancy. "Fooling around a little" can be as dangerous as going all the way.
I am a father and a grandfather who is concerned about our youth, so if this information can help someone, you have my permission to edit it any way you like. –- CONCERNED GRANDFATHER
DEAR GRANDFATHER: Thank you for a lesson in sex education that may save young people from an "accidental" pregnancy they are ill-prepared to handle.