Blind faith on abstinence education puts kids at risk

[ck4829]

Is the Bush administration capable of allowing fact-based, scientifically proven evidence rather than ideology or blind faith to shape its public policies? When it comes to what to do about air pollution, endangered species, embryonic stem cell research, the disposal of farm waste, forest management or lead poisoning, the answer is apparently not.

Nowhere is this administration’s reliance on ideology and faith and willful ignorance of science more dangerous and harmful than when it comes to sex. The president and his people continue to be willing to let your kids get dangerous diseases and to tolerate tens of thousands of preventable abortions by ignoring the fact that abstinence-only education does not work.

In a just released major study ordered by Congress, independent researchers found that in four typical abstinence-only programs sampled from around the country there was absolutely no difference between the sexual activity of kids in these program and kids who were not. In one of the abstinence-only programs studied, the students met and got the 'no sex' message for an hour every day! All of the abstinence-only programs in the study had at least 50 hours of class time. The kids were in the programs for one to three years starting at about age 11.

Chastity-only sex ed had no impact whatsoever on the kids' sexual behavior. The abstinence-only kids admitted to having sex at the same rate and starting at the same age as other students not in these classes. Whether they were in an abstinence-only class or not, by the time they reached 17 years of age, half the kids said they had had sex and half had not.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18136717/

[tanyev]

1. I want to know if the abstinence-only kids had a higher rate of pregnancy

once they started having sex.

[frogcycle]

2. what the hell do they actually TEACH in abstinence education anyway

what, they tell teenagers "here's how to not get laid" ??

hell, EVERY teenager knows that!

do they tell them alternatives to intercourse? Is "abstinence education" actually "kinky sex" education?

Or do they tell them "just don't think about your dirty bits - pretend you don't have them"

It is a real bizarro-world concept. The people promoting this actually believe it can have any affect whatsoever!?!

[ck4829]

4. Here is an article on it. It seems to be about teaching Fear, Ignorance, and Homophobia.

Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found.

Those and other assertions are examples of the "false, misleading, or distorted information" in the programs' teaching materials, said the analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.

In providing nearly $170 million next year to fund groups that teach abstinence only, the Bush administration, with backing from the Republican Congress, is investing heavily in a just-say-no strategy for teenagers and sex. But youngsters taking the courses frequently receive medically inaccurate or misleading information, often in direct contradiction to the findings of government scientists, said the report, by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), a critic of the administration who has long argued for comprehensive sex education.

Several million children ages 9 to 18 have participated in the more than 100 federal abstinence programs since the efforts began in 1999. Waxman's staff reviewed the 13 most commonly used curricula -- those used by at least five programs apiece.

The report concluded that two of the curricula were accurate but the 11 others, used by 69 organizations in 25 states, contain unproved claims, subjective conclusions or outright falsehoods regarding reproductive health, gender traits and when life begins. In some cases, Waxman said in an interview, the factual issues were limited to occasional misinterpretations of publicly available data; in others, the materials pervasively presented subjective opinions as scientific fact.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26623-2004Dec1.html

[Beer Snob-50]

3. abstinence is a good message to send concerning sex

(it is hard to get preg or a STD if you don't do it) but you do have to combine it with the other things.

This President is quite ignorant regarding this topic (among many others).

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I have no problem with abstinence being taught as a method of

birth control and disease prevention as long as other methods are also taught. Children need and deserve the best and most complete information available so they can make informed decisions. Isn't making wise decisions that can affect their future what we are supposed to be teaching them anyway?