Recently, The State News reported that the young woman who had allegedly been sexually assaulted in East Lansing had come forward to recant her story.
In the articles, the woman had reported being raped due to the fact that she had engaged in consensual unprotected sex and feared becoming pregnant.
This incident highlights the fact that young women today are not educated about the safest contraceptive methods.
More than 73 percent of women are unaware of emergency contraceptives.
These contraceptives can be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex and are 89 percent effective in preventing pregnancy. As a matter of fact, even Olin Health Center carries these contraceptives.
We should support laws such as the one introduced by state Rep. David Woodward, D-Royal Oak, requiring that health professionals and citizens receive education about emergency contraceptives.
We need to do more to arm our young men and women with medically accurate sexual education and provide them with all the tools to make informed, mature decisions in order to prevent horrific and desperate tales such as this.

Kelly Hamilton
2002 MSU alumna