Offering Condoms and Plan B

While I completely agree with you, I also think that engaging in intercourse shouldn’t be a “mistake”. Whether someone is in a committed relationship or has decided they are willing to do at the spur of the moment they should learn to take responsible actions ahead of time. It helps them in the long run to learn to be prepared.

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Never heard of condoms breaking, other birth control methods failing? It’s not all about irresponsibility.

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@Txjuju I’m in TX and completely sympathetic to your concerns. I live in El Paso and the “plan B” medication is available in MX without a prescription. However, I’m not sure I’m willing to face criminal charges at this time. I don’t know what kind of christo-fascist laws TX is going to pass exactly. I’m going to wait and see. All that said, mixing my Airbnb business with providing women’s health care or contraceptive options doesn’t seem like a good idea.

I agree.

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To this day, my nickname for my baby brother is ‘Split Rubber’.

:slight_smile:

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I read accounts of couples trying to get pregnant for years, spending vast amounts of money on in vitro fertilization, or taking fertility drugs, or paying for a surrogate.
My daughters and I all seemed to easily get pregnant, no matter what. Vasectomies or getting one’s tubes tied was the only sure birth control method.

I had an abortion when I found myself pregnant again when my third child was 9 months old. Both that pregnancy and that of my third were conceived in spite of me using birth control.

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My guests are not my children. It isn’t my role as a host to teach my guests to be prepared. My role is to be as hospitable and helpful as is reasonable. If they forget, or neglect to bring a sun hat, not realizing how strong the sun is here, I will offer to lend them one of mine, not teach them a lesson by letting them get sunstroke on the 20 minute walk to town, and spend the next day in bed feeling ill.

Even parents who are responsible and want their children to understand that actions have consequences make distinctions in what is reasonable to let them learn by their own mistakes and what isn’t.

If they throw a ball through the neighbor’s window, having to spend their next month of Saturdays doing yardwork to pay for it is a reasonable and valuable life lesson in responsibility.

Allowing your 15 year old son, who just got his first real girlfriend, to get her pregnant because he’s too shy about buying condoms himself, or because he didn’t plan to have sex, it just happened, or because you believe in abstinence outside of marriage, instead of handing him a box of condoms, sans judgement or lectures, and telling him to make sure to keep one in his wallet just in case, is not a valuable or necessary life lesson for him or his girlfriend.

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We always offered condoms and would gladly supply the day-after pill.

People have unprotected sex for all kinds of reasons, including no planning, irresponsible optimism, and contraceptive failure.

If we could help someone rethink a decision that could have disastrous consequences, we would be very glad to do that.

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I’m pretty conflicted about this. I do not offer any of this at my rental or at my previous rental.

Figure, if two people are on vacation and spending the night together, what do you think will happen? Why aren’t they responsible for their birth control? It’s not like condoms are illegal and people can’t easily get them. I don’t really see why the host needs to supply these as an option.

Condom you’ve provided breaks, who’s in trouble now. Let people take responsibility.

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No one is saying or suggesting that a host needs to or should provide condoms, tampons, or any of that. It’s just something a host might add to their bathroom supplies if they choose to.

Some hosts like me just provide some basics- soap and toilet paper, some spare toothbrushes, q-tips and cotton balls. Some hosts provide nice shampoos and conditioners, shower gels, moisturizers, hair dryers, make-up wipes, shower caps, tampons and menstrual pads, a selection of fancy soaps, etc.

Of course hosts aren’t responsible for their guests’ birth control. It’s just a hot topic in the US at the moment and hosts in places where getting an abortion is or will likely be illegal, may feel that helping prevent unwanted pregnancies that a woman will have to go through hell and high water to get terminated, by providing some condoms or a morning after pill, is their way of being a socially aware and responsible citizen, just as some hosts donate free stays for refugees or donate a portion of their rental proceeds to charity.

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I don’t know if you’re agreeing with me or not. This is also my point. It’s not the hosts responsibility in any case.

If someone chooses to offer particular amenities… great. But we won’t be offering condoms like we don’t offer a first aid kit. If something goes wrong we made be held liable.

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Well, I’ve been convinced by this thread that I should put condoms in the bathroom. I’ve also ordered tampons and sanitary napkins.

Question: Should I anywhere write that these are provided? Or just expect that they’ll look and see. FYI, the place I would put it is in a cabinet below eye level (the upper cabinet is full), so if I don’t mention it they might not see it and therefore be aware of it.

I assume I should write that it’s there.

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I was responding to you saying the above. I was not agreeing with you, I was saying that it isn’t my role as a host to teach my guests to be responsible about their sexual relations nor to not provide condoms because I think it’s my business to impose my standards of morality or responsibilty on some strangers who book a place to stay.

Providing condoms is something many hosts might provide, because they are normal drug store items that people use and might need or run out of, just like tampons or toothpaste or bandaids.

Would you choose to provide some tampons for guests in case they ran out or were caught by surprise when they weren’t expecting their period based upon whether you think women should be responsible enough to bring enough with them and be prepared for an emergency, or would you base whether to provide some because you feel it is something guests might appreciate having available until they can get to the store?

“Hey, honey, you don’t have to run out to the drugstore after all- there are condoms in the bathroom drawer. What a great host, they thought of everything a traveler might need”.

Provide condoms, tampons, whatever, or don’t, it’s a matter of how many extras you can afford to provide based on what you charge, or what you would appreciate having available if you were a traveler, or your idea of what a considerate host should make available, it’s not a “teaching moment”. It’s like deciding not to provide any spare toothbrushes because if people have teeth, they should remember to pack their toothbrush.

I once had a fairly new boyfriend and saw that he had a box of tampons in his bathroom cabinet. I assumed his last girlfriend had left them, but he told me no, his mother had told him when he was a young man on his own that a man who liked women and might have one spend the night, should always have some tampons in the cupboard, it was just a considerate thing to do.

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So I was chatting with a friend about this and he raised a good question - when was the last hotel / bed and breakfast etc you stayed at that offered condoms or plan b? And why would you want your rental to?

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I buy the sanitary napkins and tampons from the dollar store. In a pinch, a woman is not picky about the brand. She’s just grateful something is there. And she’ll look through the cabinets if she thinks you might have some.

You could always make a small sign saying that you have stocked the bathroom well and they should feel free to look through the bathroom cabinets if they need something.

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Full Disclosure: I’m a man.
This conversation is amazing and I so appreciate the insight. I have provided sanitary pads for my female guests for a while and have wondered how I might be more supportive of women who might be traveling to seek healthcare options that aren’t available in their local community. I don’t think I would be comfortable providing plan B pills, but I wonder if just some information from planned Parenthood or the likes might be more appropriate.
As my guest room is in my house rather than a separate unit I want to be supportive without in any way being suggestive; I want my female guests to feel safe in my home.

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HAV,
I just assume that all my guests “snoop” in every single cabinet, drawer, and closet in the place. Because, um, that’s what I do when I travel :rofl:

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I wouldn’t leave any Planned Parenthood brochures, but having the number in a list of local and emergency numbers would be unobtrusive and possibly useful. Since opposition to abortion seems to be religion-based (I actually think that for most men who protest abortion, it’s a matter of “How dare you abort the superior fruit of my loins”, not to mention wanting women to stay at home picking up their dirty socks), a brochure or printed info might come across like a pile of Awake magazines.

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I think my compromise will be to continue providing the condoms and add a package of foam or gel spermicide. It’s only 70-80% effective but much lower cost. Or switch to spermicide coated condoms.

My mantra to my two kids when they were young was “Condoms AND foam, always condoms AND foam.”

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Nurse Anne here.

I support the idea of providing condoms, period supplies & plan b access resources.

Meaning supply all the condoms & feminine hygiene supplies you wish.

Supplying Plan B may have good intentions but may cause harm. Plan B does not work well if the woman is on antibiotics & can have some nasty side effects if the woman is on anti-virals or anti-seizure meds and some over the counter herbals like Saint John’s Wort.

Part of the reason Plan B is in the pharmacy although a prescription is not required is because there is an important education component about efficacy. Taken the sooner the better, after 5 days, it’s probably too late. Nausea is a common side effect. If she throws up within two hours of taking, a second dose is needed. Follow up in 3 weeks with a OTC pregnancy test.

A perhaps better option would be to supply a list of close pharmacies in your guest book. I think all guest books should include urgent care/walk-in medical care centers & emergency rooms (personal bias) so pharmacies would be a natural addition.

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Everything is on the internet.

Perhaps include in your guest book local urgent care & emergency medical center information. Also include information about the closest pharmacies.