As if there had ever been reason for doubt, a new study confirm what we all already knew: abstinence-only doesn’t work.
From the Associated Press:
Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants, according to a study released by a nonpartisan group that seeks to reduce teen pregnancies.
“At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners” among teenagers, the study concluded.
The study was released by the non-partisan, reality-based National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
The study found that while abstinence-only efforts appear to have little positive impact, more comprehensive sex education programs were having “positive outcomes” including teenagers “delaying the initiation of sex, reducing the frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use.”
Pseudo-religious pseudo-morality doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. Treating people like responsible adults does. It is illogical to presume that teenagers will not be regularly thinking about sex and accessing websites like www hdtubemovies xxx as part of their sexual curiosity. There are some parents who have even thought about using something like a tpe sex doll to teach their children about sex, however, it was argued against doing this since kids might develop the wrong idea about sex.
The study debunked the following claims by abstinence-only advocates:
-that sex ed promotes promiscuity
-that sex ed leads to kids trying sex sooner, and participating in it more often
-that it confuses kids
Of course, what really leads kids to try sex is hormones. Teaching them that what their bodies are telling them is bad doesn’t work. Their bodies know better. What does work is teaching them how to approach their sexuality responsibly. Even the porn stars on fuckvideos xxx act responsibly and wear condoms and that should be taught to these teens. It’s not difficult to teach safe sex. Of course, our medievalist government wants to suppress sex at all costs, even if it means promoting policies that are counter-productive.
And speaking of costs, there’s a bill now before Congress that would spend $141,000,000 for community-based, abstinence-only sex education. That’s $4,000,000 more than Bush requested. Because with all the problems in the world, there’s no better way to burn our tax dollars than on ill-conceived attempts at sexual repression.
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As James Wagoner, President of Advocates for Youth, a Washington-based non-profit that focuses on adolescent reproductive and sexual health, recently wrote, on the Huffington Post:
Late last week, the Democratic controlled Labor HHS Appropriations Conference Committee endorsed a record $141 million dollar budget for community-based abstinence-only-until-marriage programs which prohibit information about condoms and birth control.
The record-level increase, pushed by House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI), flies in the face of a congressionally mandated evaluation showing that abstinence-only programs have “no impact on adolescent behavior.” Astonishingly, the windfall was larger than what President Bush had been able to obtain from the prior conservative, Republican-controlled Congress!
In one outrageous move, the Democrats managed to put the health and safety of millions of young people at risk, promote programs that spread ignorance in the era of AIDS, and slap their party’s brand on one of the biggest ideological boondoggles in recent congressional history. Over $1.5 billion dollars have been spent over the last decade on programs that simply do not work!
(emphasis his)
The Kaiser Network has this update:
A House-Senate conference committee on Thursday approved a fiscal year 2008 appropriations measure that would include a $27.8 million increase in funding of abstinence education programs, CQ Today reports. The legislation combines a Labor-HHS-Education spending bill (HR 3043) with a spending bill for the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction (HR 2642) (Wayne, CQ Today, 11/1).
The Senate version would have cut the abstinence only garbage by some $28,000,000, but even that wasn’t acceptable. The conference committee went with the House version. Contact your Congressional representatives and tell them to kill this absurdity. It’s time this country grew up and stopped taking a Beavis and Butthead approach to sexuality.
The magnificent Guttmacher Institute has a page full of sober-minded resources.
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From an interview with Tom Perrotta, who’s just written a novel about this very topic:
But I’ll be honest: I feel the same way. Even if these bizarre, ignorance-spreading programs were curtailing teen sex and pregnancy, I’d still be opposed to them. The value – and I’ll use the same word – shouldn’t be a statistic about frequency, and when we start there we’ve already ceded ground to the conservatives by making the assumption that more = bad. I’d rather sexually curious teens who know what they’re getting into than half that number who don’t.
Otherwise I agree with your post. And $141 million? My god, our country is such a joke.
“abstinence-only” should be asked if it works for them.
Wait…they want to blow $27.8 million on abstinence education? And we have a Democratic majority?
be abstinence doesn’t reduce teen sex. Huh?
they talking about? Love is a good value sex is wonderful, by calling it bad, evil and forbidden, just makes it unwholesomely attractive. Instead of a nation of ‘pure’ teens were going to reap the flip side, teens and adults who think its dirty and wicked. This country seems hell bent on taking us back to the Victorian age, repressions, sweatshops, creepy sex, dark fantasies, and child labor. The Democrats think this is good? Sex bad torture good? Strange days!