By Rori Black
Today, May 2, is Prevent Teen Pregnancy Day; a good day to remember that abstinence-only education is a miserable failure. One billion taxpayer dollars have been given to a program that does not make teens more likely to abstain from sex or delay when they become sexually active.
Impacts for Title V. Section 510, Abstinence Education Programs: Final Report (pdf), released in April, was posted on a Government web-site with no press release or advisory, James Wagoner said: “The ‘stealth release’ of this study on an obscure government website on a Friday afternoon is clearly meant to bury its contents..”
“After 10 years and $1.5 billion in public funds these failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs will go down as an ideological boondoggle of historic proportions,â€
The facts about teen pregnancy don’t lie:
- The United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the Western industrialized world.
- One out of every three young women in America becomes pregnant before she reaches the age of 20.
- Each year, 750,000 young women become pregnant.
- Eight out of 10 of these pregnancies are unintended and nearly one-third end in abortion.
If the goal was to improve “morality” and reduce abortions, not only has the project failed miserably, but “[t]he tragedy is not simply the waste of taxpayer dollars, it is the damage done to the young people who have been on the receiving end of distorted, inaccurate information about condoms and birth control. We have been promoting ignorance in the era of AIDS, and that’s not just bad public health policy, its bad ethicsâ€.
Waggoner continues, “Congress must now move to de-fund these programs. Anything short of eliminating these programs would be a dereliction of its duty to promote public health and protect young people in the era of AIDSâ€.
And they have. Sen. Robert Menendez and Rep. Steve Rothman (both D-NJ) have reintroduced the Teen Pregnancy Prevention, Responsibility, and Opportunity Act to help schools and community groups set up programs that encourage teens to delay sexual activity and help parents communicate with their children about sex. NARAL is asking people to contact their congresscritters and encourage them to co-sponsor the bill.
On this, the National Prevent Teen Pregnancy Day, I ask that we help create real programs that work in the real world, empowering teens with the information they need to make responsible and healthy choices.
Categories: Politics/Law/Government
Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues 
Two things leap out here:
“One out of every three young women in America becomes pregnant before she reaches the age of 20.”
“We have been promoting ignorance in the era of AIDS, and that
Oh wow. I didn’t realize how systemic the pushing of pseudo science was.
It doesn’t take a huge leap to look at the intelligence cherry picking from the CIA and consider them two parts of one giant push to misinform, “propel the propaganda”, and defraud the American people.
Thank you for that horrifying link.
I remember a similar NIH study from last year that came to similar conclusions–that abstinence-only education was completely failing to reduce or prevent early sexual activity among teenagers.
Worse yet–and forgive me for being graphic–the study found that because teenagers weren’t properly educated in how to use condoms and were repeatedlly drilled with the importance of not giving up one’s virginity, the study found increasing instances of unprotected oral and anal sex among the groups they studied. In other words, it was okay as long as they remained virgins.
It’s the worst of all possible worlds. More likelihood of transmission of STDs, more pregnancies, and less knowledge.
I remember that report. Oral and anal sex wasn’t considered “sex” by these kids since it wasn’t penile/vaginal intercourse.
To today’s teens anal sex is what dry humping was to our generation.
Only you can’t get AIDS from dry humping, only serious chaffing.
Is it ironic to anyone else that the same-people who support abstinence-only education are anti-abortion and also look down on people on welfare? Give people a freakin’ chance, you know?
Their line of reasoning is thus: “If you live a good clean life, work hard, keep it in your pants, and go to the right church, you won’t need welfare.”
As with any good campaign, we need a good motto to counter the opposition. “Abstain from abstinence,” perhaps? (It worked in 1968.) On the other hand, that was pre-AIDS, so I’m afraid the message will have to be a bit more complex. Starting with accurate science and early sex education would certainly be a big improvement.