This 'sickening' comment?
It is the greatest gift that you can give someone, the ultimate gift of giving and don't give it to someone lightly, that's what I would say.''
http://www.smh.com.au/national/abbott-stands-by-virginity-comments-20100125-muhm.html
In a revealing interview with The Australian Women's Weekly, Mr Abbott said women should try to stick to ''the rules'' when considering sex before marriage.
When they cannot abstain, women should use contraception, the former Catholic seminarian says.
"Look, I was subjected to a one-hour grilling from the editor of the Australian Women's Weekly, I was asked direct questions and I did my best to give an honest answer", Mr Abbott told Radio 3AW today.
"I think all of us should act in ways that value ourselves. I'm trying not to be prescriptive here, I am trying not to be a preacher, but if someone asks my advice I would say don't do anything you will live to regret if you can possibly help it."
Asked to reveal his advice to his daughters, Mr Abbott told Neil Mitchell on 3AW: " They shouldn't give themselves away lightly."
His advice to males? "Much the same - treat people with respect and don't act in ways that demean other people."
Mr Abbott conceded that he could face criticism for his statements, given his own sexual activity before marriage, which became public in 2005, when it was believed he had fathered a son of his former girlfriend Kathy Donnelly.
DNA testing later proved Daniel O'Connor, then working in the federal parliamentary press gallery, was not his son.
"I have a very chequered past and I don't claim to be an exemplar of virtue in any way", Mr Abbott told 3AW.
On contraception, Mr Abbot said that "the rules are there for a reason", but individuals were not always able to live up to them, and they should "act appropriately in the circumstances''.
In the interview, Mr Abbott says women's contraceptives have liberated men as much as they have women and warns that unmarried women are being taken advantage of as a result. Asked what advice he gives his own daughters on sex, Mr Abbott says it should be treated as ''a gift''.
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