On this World AIDS Day, Catholics for Choice and the
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health are thrilled to announce the
launch of the first-ever Condoms4Life radio ads. The two Spanish-language ads
take on myths about condom use in Catholic and Latino communities and aim to
highlight the importance of condom use and that Good Catholics Use Condoms.
The radio campaign launches today in New
York City and will roll-out nationwide in 2009.

Using its core message of "Good Catholics Use Condoms," the
radio ads present a positive message to sexually active Catholics about responsibility
and caring for others. The ads appeal to people of faith with one of the
60-second spots stating: "I’m Catholic and there is nothing more important to
me than protecting family and love. That’s why I talked to my grandson about
condoms." The ads aim to remind people of faith that taking care of yourself
and caring for each other means using condoms when you are sexually active.

Despite a fierce misinformation campaign waged by the
Catholic hierarchy, we know that Catholic people the world over use condoms to
prevent the transmission of HIV. Catholics use condoms because we know it is
the responsible, loving and caring thing to do.

The first ad features a grandmother
speaking about her grandson, a gay man, who hears that Catholics are not
supposed to use condoms. She tells her grandson, "I took care of you because I
love you and if you love that man, you’ll take care of him, too."

The second ad features a couple and
models language that couples can use when discussing the importance of love,
faith and condom use in their relationship. The ad concludes, "We are Catholics
and people of faith and we know sex is sacred and that we need to take care of
each other. And this means using a condom every time we have sex."

We are delighted to be partnering on this innovative radio
campaign because we are committed to making sure that that the younger
generation of Latinos, who did not experience the scourge of AIDS in the 1980s
and 1990s, are making sure that sex is safer and that our partners and
ourselves are protected.

Working together, we recognize the special challenges Latino
communities experience. Latinos represent almost 20 percent of new HIV
infections occurring in the United
States and young Latinas are twice as likely
to face an unintended pregnancy as the general population. The Latino community
faces many health disparities and it is time that we protect ourselves and our
partners.

Largely because our religion has not always been honest about
sex, there exists an embarrassed silence around condom use. It is our hope that
we can show Catholic and Latino communities that it is time to break the
silence and proclaim, as these ads do, that good Catholics use condoms. We want
our communities to know that using condoms is one of the many ways that we can
be proactive and make smart decisions about our sexual health.

To listen to the ads or for more information, visit www.Condoms4Life.org.