Scientists to Congress: stop funding abstinence-only ed.
Scientists to Congress: stop funding abstinence-only ed.
In a letter sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) last week, 10 leading scientists in the field of adolescent sexual and reproductive health “strongly” urged Congress to “reconsider federal support for abstinence-only education programs and policies.” From their letter:
By design, abstinence programs restrict information about condoms and contraception – information that may be critical to protecting the health of young people and to preventing unplanned pregnancy, HIV infection, and infection with other sexually transmitted organisms. They ignore the health needs of sexually active youth and youth who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning for counseling, health care services, and risk reduction education. Withholding lifesaving information from young people is contrary to the standards of medical ethics and to many international human rights conventions.
Read the whole letter here.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
Teaching “Abstinence Only” ought to be considered criminal negligence – and prosecuted as such.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:52 amIf only Bush the 1st had practiced what Shrub is now preaching…
November 28th, 2007 at 11:58 amFacts can’t compete with ideology.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:59 amThe sexual education I got in public schools hear in Seattle was very good. The teachers stressed that abstinence was the only sure way to avoid STDs and pregnancy. We were told that it is okay to wait until marriage to have sex. But, they also told us about masturbation in the 5th grade, finally putting a name to something I did several times a day. In the 7th grade I remember hearing a lot about condoms, the pill, and other methods of birth control. Me and my best friend even went and bought some condoms to try them out. And of course they told us about STDs and eventually about AIDS, which scared the bejeezus out of me.
There are many ways the classes could have been better, of course. I think it’s funny that they teach about anatomy using line drawings. But, it is shocking to me to think that all these years later the kids in school today might not even be receiving as much information as I did.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:59 amThe reasons given above for stopping funding for abstinence only sex education programs are very good ones. Keeping factual information from teenagers isn’t smart.
But the biggest reason they missed was that if something doesn’t work, why should we continue throwing money at it?
November 28th, 2007 at 12:15 pmWhy would anyone who wants to get anything accomplished send a letter to Pelosi and Reid?
November 28th, 2007 at 12:20 pm“Withholding lifesaving information from young people is contrary to the standards of medical ethics and to many international human rights conventions.”
Why do Republicans hate our children and youth so much?
November 28th, 2007 at 1:00 pmBush is a born again Christofascist, he will just ignore any sane advice, it’s his way or the highway.
Anyway anyone who says, “God told me to attack Iraq” is insane.
No God, No Little Voices In Your Head, He Lied, Again. Either that or he is totally insane.
Bush/Cheney
Hague Trials ‘09
Buck Fush
November 28th, 2007 at 1:03 pm#6. You got that right. Sadly, they’re both spineless and useless. Children should be taught everything they need to know about sexually transmitted diseases. They should be taught both abstinence until marriage (or “committed relationship” until gay people are no longer discriminated against when it comes to marriage rights), and they should be taught about methods of birth control. This is simple and it makes sense. People makes choices, and it’s ridiculous to assume that teens will only choose abstinence because that’s what they’ve been taught. Their brains may have been taught abstinence, but their bodies have the upper hand when hormones kick in. It’s time this country quit pandering to the religious whackos because they have proven to not be a very good source for anything in this country. Just take a look at the idiot they put in the oval office.
November 28th, 2007 at 1:04 pmSo now, expect Bush to seek more funding for abstinence education.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:12 pmThe Secretary of Failure himself.
Maybe they’ll “pull out” of this whole abstinence thing.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:00 pmResearch also shows abstinence programs work for about 3-4 months and then the teens return to having sex, with no information about what they are doing.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:11 pmBack in my day we didn’t have fancy birth control methods like “Pulling out”!
November 28th, 2007 at 3:25 pmAbstinence-only education has been in place since at least 2004; I wrote a piece on this here.
There’s an horrific amount of money being spent on abstinence-only and there are strings tied to all of it. Studies show that abstinence-only education loses effectiveness after grade 8.
The FY08 Domestic Appropriations have convinced me that few, if any, incumbents deserve their jobs. They’re all a bunch of idiots who, if they didn’t support the abstinence-only folly, are guilty of failing to make sure their constituents are aware of the situation. It’s been YEARS since anyone squawked about this nonsense.
November 28th, 2007 at 4:34 pmThe Pope’s Prophylactics
November 28th, 2007 at 4:35 pm.
I have this vision of acolytes preparing the Pope’s food in the Vatican kitchens.
In this day and age they are appropriately wearing latex sheaths on their hands. Each finger is covered; ten little condoms for the Pope’s oral hygiene.
But when it comes to genitalia..icky, icky…Pius and Paul…forswear protection in Christ’s name…you’all.
–cognitorex blogspot–
Since the longitudinal data also shows the DARE program to be utterly useless other then making adults feel good, can we stop wasting time with that nonsense as well. By the way, anyone see the recent study that showed that when genetics was factored in people who had engaged in early sexual activity were 1/3 LESS likely to have later academic, criminal, or antisocial problems then were those whom resisted temptation?
November 28th, 2007 at 4:38 pm