Just Say NO!

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says

By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 2, 2004; Page A01

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.

Among the misconceptions cited by Waxman's investigators:

• A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person."

• HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears.

• Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.

One curriculum, called "Me, My World, My Future," teaches that women who have an abortion "are more prone to suicide" and that as many as 10 percent of them become sterile. This contradicts the 2001 edition of a standard obstetrics textbook that says fertility is not affected by elective abortion, the Waxman report said.

"I have no objection talking about abstinence as a surefire way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases," Waxman said. "I don't think we ought to lie to our children about science. Something is seriously wrong when federal tax dollars are being used to mislead kids about basic health facts."

When used properly and consistently, condoms fail to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) less than 3 percent of the time, federal researchers say, and it is not known how many gay teenagers are HIV-positive. The assertion regarding gay teenagers may be a misinterpretation of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found that 59 percent of HIV-infected males ages 13 to 19 contracted the virus through homosexual relations.

Joe. S. McIlhaney Jr., who runs the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, which developed much of the material that was surveyed, said he is "saddened" that Waxman chose to "blast" well-intentioned abstinence educators when there is much the two sides could agree on.

McIlhaney acknowledged that his group, which publishes "Sexual Health Today" instruction manuals, made a mistake in describing the relationship between a rare type of infection caused by chlamydia bacteria and heart failure. Chlamydia also causes a common type of sexually transmitted infection, but that is not linked to heart disease. But McIlhaney said Waxman misinterpreted a slide that warns young people about the possibility of pregnancy without intercourse. McIlhaney said the slide accurately describes a real, though small, risk of pregnancy in mutual masturbation.

Congress first allocated money for abstinence-only programs in 1999, setting aside $80 million in grants, which go to a variety of religious, civic and medical organizations. To be eligible, groups must limit discussion of contraception to failure rates.

President Bush has enthusiastically backed the movement, proposing to spend $270 million on abstinence projects in 2005. Congress reduced that to about $168 million, bringing total abstinence funding to nearly $900 million over five years. It does not appear that the abstinence-only curricula are being taught in the Washington area.

Waxman and other liberal sex-education proponents argue that adolescents who take abstinence-only programs are ill-equipped to protect themselves if they become sexually active. According to the latest CDC data, 61 percent of graduating high school seniors have had sex.

Supporters of the abstinence approach, also called abstinence until marriage, counter that teaching young people about "safer sex" is an invitation to have sex.

Alma Golden, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that Waxman's report is a political document that does a "disservice to our children." Speaking as a pediatrician, Golden said, she knows "abstaining from sex is the most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs and preventing pregnancy."

Nonpartisan researchers have been unable to document measurable benefits of the abstinence-only model. Columbia University researchers found that although teenagers who take "virginity pledges" may wait longer to initiate sexual activity, 88 percent eventually have premarital sex.

Bill Smith, vice president of public policy at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, a comprehensive sex education group that also receives federal funding, said the Waxman report underscored the need for closer monitoring of what he called the "shame-based, fear-based, medically inaccurate messages" being disseminated with tax money. He said the danger of abstinence education lies in the omission of useful medical information.

Some course materials cited in Waxman's report present as scientific fact notions about a man's need for "admiration" and "sexual fulfillment" compared with a woman's need for "financial support." One book in the "Choosing Best" series tells the story of a knight who married a village maiden instead of the princess because the princess offered so many tips on slaying the local dragon. "Moral of the story," notes the popular text: "Occasional suggestions and assistance may be alright, but too much of it will lessen a man's confidence or even turn him away from his princess."

[Dr Dave]

McIlhaney doesn't even bother to deny Waxman's charges. Life is good for sexual propagandists here in Bush II, eh?

[Enforcer]

I heard about this on the radio today. My synopsis goes something like this: What a bunch of f**king idiots.

Trust your government, and don't let science get in the way of it. Also, God is a white, Christian male who wants you to vote for me.

[Root Doctor]

Facts are for chumps.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

What really pisses me off is that 61% of graduating seniors are having sex. When I was in high school I didn't get within 100 feet of some serious trim.

Of course, I went to Central H.S. for Boys, but still...

I love the part about the woman who got the Prince instead of the Princess. Funny thing, right now I've got Miles on playing "Someday My Prince Will Come".

Not if these abstinence cats have their way.

[Enforcer]

Darryl,

Compounding the resentment for me is the knowledge that kids don't consider oral sex "real" sex. I guess that's the most rampant kind of sexual activity amongst high school kids. It's being treated like a slightly elevated form of making out.

Why the hell did I have to miss out on the golden age of high school??!

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Larry,

Like I said, I went to an all boys high school. I'm glad that I missed out on that "golden age".

And if you follow a strict interpretation of the Bible, like I do, oral sex is not sex.

Which reminds me. A couple of years ago, one of the school Districts in Northern Virginia had an emergency meeting with parents. The parents went there thinking it was about alcohol and drug abuse.

Nope.

It was about that oral sex epidemic you were talking about. These kids were pretty casual about it too. They weren't just doing it with their boyfriends or girlfriends. It was like back in my day when someone would offer you a beer or something.

I thought it was hilarious, but then I don't have any kids. And yeah, I was a little jealous. Back in my day you were lucky if you got a slow dance in some basement party.

[Gary Sisco]

It's always better to lie to the kids. Isn't that what you were taught? Start telling them the truth, and the next thing you know ... well, something'll happen.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Anything to keep them from doing the nasty.

Funny thing about lying to kids, they seem to find out. Especially now with all the alternative sources of info at people's finger tips.

If I were a parent, I'd probably concentrate on the negative aspects of unprotected sex, unwanted pregnancies, VD, STDS.

[cookie]

The abstinence-only moralists are fools who care more about their religious/moral dogma than they do about people.

And much like the rest of the Bush camp, they don't care if anything is really true. They take their views on "faith" and don't care about statistics or science. It's like something out of the Dark Ages, man.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

The problem is treating teenage-sex as an either/or situation. A realist would offer alternatives, abstinence being one of them. In a perfect world everyone would wait until they were adults to have sex. But this isn't a perfect world.

And lying defeats what you're trying to accomplish. If you're preaching abstinence from a moral perspective, say so up front.

[A. Kingstone]

Save abstinence for the dry spells.

[Enforcer]

Originally Posted by Darryl G. Thomas

And lying defeats what you're trying to accomplish. If you're preaching abstinence from a moral perspective, say so up front.

Yes!

[stonemonkts]

Originally Posted by Darryl G. Thomas

In a perfect world everyone would wait until they were adults to have sex. But this isn't a perfect world.

I'm not sure the world would be "perfect" if everyone younger than "adults" didn't have sex.

It sure changed my worldview for the better, I can tell you.

Serious about the former and the latter,
stone

[Pete C]

The amazing thing to me is what they "don't" do at Oral Roberts U.

[stonemonkts]

Somebody stop him!

Out of control.

[groover]

Originally Posted by Darryl G. Thomas

What really pisses me off is that 61% of graduating seniors are having sex. When I was in high school I didn't get within 100 feet of some serious trim.

Of course, I went to Central H.S. for Boys, but still...

235! (My brother was in 233).

[GoodSpeak]

Just Say NO!

Ah....the Nancy Regan School of Abstinence.





Lean to the left,
Lean to the right,
Just-Say-No.

[sonic1]

[Gary Sisco]

Nothing can stop young people from doing It. No law, no nothing. You can't fight biology.

[Gary Sisco]

More on compassionate fascism from Andrew Sullivan's site:

THEOCRACY WATCH I: There's been a mild and partial debunking of the Waxman investigation into "abstinence-only" programs funded by the feds here. But the broader point remains. Under the guise of sex ed, the Bush administration is using public funds to spread an ill-informed, half-baked evangelical message. Your tax dollars are being spent to tell kids that "a 43-day-old fetus is a 'thinking person,'" that "HIV can be spread via sweat and tears," and that "condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse." This crap is bad enough. Then we find this:
Some course materials cited in Waxman's report present as scientific fact notions about a man's need for "admiration" and "sexual fulfillment" compared with a woman's need for "financial support." One book in the "Choosing Best" series tells the story of a knight who married a village maiden instead of the princess because the princess offered so many tips on slaying the local dragon. "Moral of the story," notes the popular text: "Occasional suggestions and assistance may be alright, but too much of it will lessen a man's confidence or even turn him away from his princess."
We're spending hundreds of millions of dollars to spread James Dobson's gospel to kids in public high schools. I have no problem with abstinence education. I have no problem with churches teaching kids how to live sexual lives responsibly. But I do have a problem with spreading fear, ignorance and chauvinism with my tax dollars. But when you hand over government social policy to religious groups, what do you expect?

THEOCRACY WATCH II: I missed this quote from Alabama state rep Gerald Allen, who wants to ban public funds for any books "that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle." What of existing books by, say, Whitman or Auden or Proust, and other degenerates? We have the answer:
Allen said that if his bill passes, novels with gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural would have to be removed from library shelves and destroyed. "I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," he said.
Why not burn them instead? Among the books Allen wants to "bury" are "The Color Purple," "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "Brideshead Revisited." Public schools would be barred from performing "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." I used to read these kinds of stories and dismiss them. But in Karl Rove's Republican party, how is this in any way out of place?
- 1:39:48 AM

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." Justice Brandeis, New State Ice Co. vs Liebmann, 1932. Justice Brandeis, welcome to the new Republicanism. My latest piece on the importance of federalism today can be read here.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

groover,

233, Class of '74. We used to have another ex-Lancer, Bruce Woods, on this board. Robin Eubanks is a Lancer too, a couple of classes ahead of me Ithink.

I guess Rep. Allen is of the opinion that by wiping all references of homosexuality from Alabama's libraries he would end homosexuality in his state?

Sullivan's an interesting case. I saw him on Bil Mahler's show right after the election. It seemed to me he was bending over backwards trying to deny the factor the same-sex marriage ballot measures played in bringing evangelicals to the polls (and may have helped Bush win).

I know he's a conservative and I may be wrong, but a supporter of the Republican Party. My question is: How can you travel in the circles of those who hate you? Now, I'm not saying he should run out a become a Democrat, but does he expect some miraculous transformation of the Republican Party into one of tolerance in the near future?

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by Darryl G. Thomas

does he expect some miraculous transformation of the Republican Party into one of tolerance in the near future?

I have the same questions about people who remain in the Catholic Church that finds them or their behavior anathema.

[Phil_Meloy]

Originally Posted by Larry Nagel

Trust your government, and don't let science get in the way of it.

Yeah - how come they left out the part apart about sex making you go completely blind and causing you to break out in festering sores all over your body?

[Dr Dave]

Originally Posted by Phil_Meloy

Yeah - how come they left out the part apart about sex making you go completely blind and causing you to break out in festering sores all over your body?

No, Phil, it's jerking off that does that.

Sex is cool as long as it results in a white baby with a mommy and a daddy and a trust fund.