Fundies cling to the "abstinence-only education works" chimera

from the American Family Association, which believes that sex can only include a husband and wife. (Or an in-room movie and a blow-up doll.): :evilgrin:




New study shows merits of abstinence education
Bill Bumpas - OneNewsNow - 2/2/2010 7:50:00 AM


A new study gives proponents of abstinence education ammunition in the struggle to receive federal funding for abstinence-centered education.

A study released in the February 2010 issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine reports that among a group of more than 660 high-risk sixth- and seventh-grade students, those who received abstinence education were more likely to wait to have sex than those who received any other kind of sex education.

Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, finds it interesting this study came out the same day as President Obama submitted his 2011 budget to Congress.

"(A budget) in which he has zero dollars allocated to abstinence education, but over $100 million allocated to contraceptive sex education -- which in this study," she notes, "was not nearly as successful in helping people wait (to engage in sexual behavior)."

Huber encourages Congress to make changes in both this year's and next year's budget. "Let's put abstinence education back in that budget," she urges. "Let's continue to give young people the skills they need to wait to have sex and to have the healthiest outcomes as a result."

The Association spokeswoman argues that this new study gives credence to the effectiveness of the abstinence message.


http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=880018

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/02/03/the-fracas-over-the-abstinence-education-works-study/

I'd add to the complaints already lodged that the kids were not followed nearly long enough and that what sort of sex each group was engaging in wasn't followed. Abstinence education studies done before this one point out that there is a period when they seem to work followed by a period in which ignorant kids engage in very unsafe sex because they don't know any better. That's why teenage pregnancy and abortion rates both climbed over the last miserable decade.

I have no problem with abstinence being taught as part of the comprehensive sex education classes. It is the best way to prevent pregnancy and disease. However, I want those kids to know what to do when they can't ignore those raging hormones one more day.

I want them to live through the experience.