ACLU Targets Abstinence Programs
Posted on October 18, 2005
In an effort to support it’s so called “reproductive rights” agenda, the ACLU is now targeting sex education programs that focus only on abstinence. Abstinence is the only way to prevent pregnancy 100% of the time, but the ACLU would rather have teenagers know that abortion is a viable solution for them.
(AgapePress) - As if it’s not busy enough trying to keep prayer out of the nation’s schools and Ten Commandments displays off public property, the ACLU has added a new objective in its quest to defend the civil rights of American citizens: eliminate from public schools sex-education programs that encourage teens to remain sexually pure until marriage.
As part of its nationwide campaign to protect what it calls “reproductive freedom” — liberal buzz words typically referring to “abortion on demand” — the American Civil Liberties Union has target several states it says are allowing “dangerous abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula” to be taught in public schools. In letters written to officials in 18 states, the ACLU states the curricula “deny young people crucial information they need to prevent pregnancy and protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases” and, consequently, are “ineffective and dangerous.”
“To ensure the health of young people throughout [your state], we ask your assistance in keeping these unsafe programs out of our schools,” says the letter, which is critical of abstinence-only programs such as A.C. Green’s “Game Plan.” Other programs, asserts the letter, “present harmful stereotypes about men and women.”
ACLU affiliates in numerous areas of the country are participating in the “Not in My State” campaign, including Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. SOURCE
The ACLU is now affiliating itself with organizations currently targeting programs who do not mention abortion as a means of birth control. The ACLU is also claiming that this violates the “seperation of church and state” since many abstinence-only programs are supported by and based around religious groups. These groups aren’t telling kids to convert, but are only telling kids to abstain for sex until marriage if they don’t want to get pregnant.
Earlier this year, the ACLU filed a lawsuit to eliminate federal funding for a highly successful abstinence-based sex ed program called the Silver Ring Thing, which encourages teens to sign a voluntary pledge to abstain from sexual activity until marriage and to wear a ring signifying their vow. The ACLU argued that federal funding to the Silver Ring Thing constitutes an unconstitutional endorsement of religion, and that the program fails to adequately separate religious components from its abstinence message.
An attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, which intervened in the suit, stated that the fact the ACLU would oppose the Silver Ring Thing, despite the success of abstinence-only programs, “exposes the ACLU’s agenda and horribly misplaced priorities.” SOURCE
Good thing our friends from the Alliance Defense Fund have already stepped in to fight the ACLU’s anti-Christian lawsuits. Why should the federal government NOT support measures that will cut down on unwanted teen pregnancies and abortions. Almost all people agree that abortion shouldn’t be used as a measure of birth control, but apparently the ACLU disagrees.
Real Teen is a contributing writer for Stop the ACLU. He also runs his very own blog, Right on the Right, and contributes to Conservative Spirit.
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5 Responses to “ACLU Targets Abstinence Programs”
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Abortion is a lucrative business for the ACLU, so it makes sense they don’t want teenagers to abstain.
Jay you beat me to posting that statement about the abortion doctors.
Well, to be unconstitutional the program doesn’t need to try and convert. All that is required is the failing of the Lemon test. I would say that if these programs are based around religious organizations they fail the third test: too much intertangling of government and religion.
“Why should the federal government NOT support measures”
Because the government is spending $170 million a year on these programs, with individual states kicking in millions as well, and like as not, many of these are in fact run by religious groups who have no qualms about spreading lies (e.g., HIV can be spread through kissing and tears, oral contraceptives *increase* the risks of pregnancy, and contraceptives cause psychiatric problems) and bringing God into the equation.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/111805030118661.xml&coll=2
Similar abuses have taken place elsewhere in the country.
“”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.”
Nice.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041202/REPOSITORY/412020367/1037/NEWS04
Even if these shady groups didn’t exist, preaching abstinence, whjile lovely in principle, doesn’t work. In fact, abstinence programs are an abject failure, as the article in the Monitor reveals. Teenagers are not going to quit screwing.
I agree that people who think they can fall back on abortion if they get pregnant are misguided, but you might note that abortion happens to be legal in the United States right now. You also might note that this is in fact a First Amendment issue. But if you think goverment money (that’s taxpayer money) should go to funding morons and liars, by all means speak out against the ACLU on this one.
I’d like a definition of success please. While these programs–and this one specifically–postpone sex on average for their participants for 18 months they do not postpone sexual intercourse. What they do do is raise the likelihood that the participants in these programs will NOT use a condom when they do have sex and the rate of STD’s is higher among these kids because they are not given information regarding STD’s. Oh and while they aren’t actually having intercourse they are having oral and anal sex at higher rates because they do not learn and or view that these two acts “count.”
How come no mention of what the pledge says and no mention of the inscription on the ring–which by the way is a quote from the Bible…you really want the government involved in religion? becuase that is what you are going to get when you allow the government to be involved in these programs.
Also, how come no discussion above or at least a mention as to what the program did to violate the rules of faith based programs receiving federal monies?
This seems like a one-sided and not accurate presentation of this program to achieve making your point. There were a lot of other faith based programs that received money that were actually effective. When you ignore tham for faith-based propaganda programs you kind of hint at what you are really after and it really doesn’t seem like it is just the funding of effective faith based programs or non-discrimination against the Christian Faith.