If abstinence is your only form of protection, it must be practiced scrupulously. One word of caution. If you choose to engage in sexual contact without intercourse, you are sharing the responsibility of protection with your partner to a greater degree than with other methods. Once you get the man to put on the condom, or to wait until you get your diaphragm in, or whatever, the precaution has been taken. But with abstinence, you must constantly be aware of what actions could be dangerous, and you are partly relying on him to remember also.
Abstinence is a more intimate form of protection than most other methods.
Don't get bullied into using this method if what you want is abstinence. If you are practicing complete abstinence from sexual contact, you may nontheless want some sexual release. I recommend masturbation. We have some information about masturbation on a separate page called Sex For One . I highly recommend it to anyone unsure about whether they should be having sex, and I fully support anyone who knows they don't want sex.