ACLU: Abstinence Education a Waste of Time & Money
Posted on September 18, 2006
Quinn and Rose read this on their XM Radio morning show…
Julie Petrella, Director of the ACLU’s Clara Bell Duvall Reproductive Freedom Project, believes that abstinence education is a waste of time & money:
For Immediate Release
September 5, 2006
Philadelphia, PA - Pennsylvania family-planning organizations, obstetricians, gynecologists, and pediatricians, and the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter today asking school administrators to evaluate their district’s sexuality-education programs to ensure that they provide medically accurate and unbiased information.
“As the school year opens, we want schools to teach curricula that give Pennsylvania youth the information they need to make smart and healthy choices about their sexuality,” said Julie Petrella, Interim Director of the Clara Bell Duvall Reproductive Freedom Project of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “In recent years, too much time and money have been wasted on ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that leave teens vulnerable to pregnancy and STDs.”
Today’s letter, which is being sent to 501 public school superintendents and the CEOs of 93 charter schools statewide, cautions that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs give youth the false impression that condoms do not protect against sexually transmitted diseases or prevent unintendend pregnancies. The coalition is asking schools to implement comprehensive sexuality education programs that will explain the benefits of abstaining from sex but will also supply students with age-appropriate information and resources they need to fully protect themselves should they begin having sex.
» Filed Under ACLU, Abortion, Church And State, News
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8 Responses to “ACLU: Abstinence Education a Waste of Time & Money”
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“…abstinence-only-until-marriage programs give youth the false impression that condoms do not protect against sexually transmitted diseases or prevent unintendend pregnancies.”
Huh?
First of all, students do not need a teacher putting a rubber on a banana for them to know how to put one on, or if they are going to use one the reasons why they are using one. The ones who do not use condoms do fail to use them out of ignorance. Any public school child knows more about sex when in the 2nd grade than what they should by virtue of children who have older siblings or older children in school spreading their knowledge.
Abstinence-only education may not prevent all school-aged children from having sex, but it is at least presenting the correct message to our youth who may not have strong influences outside of school. To do anything otherwise is foolish and only promotes the problems that youth face with making grown-up decisions leading to consequences that they are not yet able to handle.
Read more carefully. No one is claiming that abstinence programs per se are wasteful, only that ineffective ones are. And as many of these programs have to date included a great many outrageous lies, they have been by definition ineffective, so calling for reform is totally appropriate.
Sending the correct messagge (sex is evil, ugly and dirty and you should save it for someone you love) is SOOO much more important than preventing abortions, teen pregnancy and AIDS. All that stuff is piffling compared to sending the correct message! The states who have the most stringent–and dishonest–abstinence-only sex education have the highest rates of abortion, teen pregnancy and STD. Do the math.
“The states who have the most stringent–and dishonest–abstinence-only sex education have the highest rates of abortion, teen pregnancy and STD. Do the math.”
Sources please. Mine say something quite different:
http://www.heritage.org/research/welfare/abstinence.cfm
Abstinence until marriage is not sending the message that sex is evil. It is sending the message that sex outside of marriage is evil which is a provable point. STD’s are spread because of sex outside of marriage. If everyone waited until marriage to have sex and then did not commit adultery then there would not be a significant number of STD’s if any. Endangering the natural human rights of health and life of yourself or others for sexual pleasure is considered evil.
Abstinence only education works fine while the children are being taught it but the tend to forget it afterwards. There is a lower percentage of sexual active individuals in the group of teens who attend church regularly and are most likely getting the message constantly reinforced.
“Sending the correct messagge (sex is evil, ugly and dirty and you should save it for someone you love) is SOOO much more important than preventing abortions, teen pregnancy and AIDS.”
How many abortions are prevented through YOUR approved method of handing out contraception? What lies, btw, are abstinence only programs teaching children?
“The states who have the most stringent–and dishonest–abstinence-only sex education have the highest rates of abortion, teen pregnancy and STD. Do the math.”
No, you do it, after you provide the links with proof of this assertion, and then irrefutable reasoning as to why whatever survey you may have quoted should be relied upon. Thanks so much.
That’s right Kerwyn, but I guess encouraging teens to have more sex is a better method of preventing STDs. After all, we all know condoms work 100% don’t they?
Keep the fire in the fireplace.
…or you might end up on one of Maury Povich’s ‘Who’s Da Daddy’ episodes
I don’t know about states but I do know that Washington DC has an outrageous abortion rate and still refuses to teach abstinence until marriage.