Shortsighted, abstinence-only approach to sex education just isn't working
The brilliance of conservatives was recently highlighted by a new report which demonstrates that the right wing approach to sex education hasn't succeeded:
The administration discourages discussion about contraception, condoms, or best practices for safe sex through its failed policy.
So, while students have continued to have sex despite their "education", they have not been provided with methods to do it safely. And the lack of information means more teen pregnancies and more sexually transmitted infections.
Legislation has been proposed in Congress to address this failed policy. The Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act would fund medically accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education for America's youth. More information about the bill is available from the Advocates for Youth.
It's been a central plank of George Bush's social policy: to stop teenagers having sex. More than $1bn of federal money has been spent on promoting abstinence since 1998 - posters printed, television adverts broadcast and entire education programmes devised for hundreds of thousands of girls and boys.The Bush policy has been to ignore a comprehensive approach to sex education in favor of preaching abstinence only.
The trouble is, new research suggests that it hasn't worked. At all.
A survey of more than 2,000 teenagers carried out by a research company on behalf of Congress found that the half of the sample given abstinence-only education displayed exactly the same predilection for sex as those who had received conventional sex education in which contraception was discussed.
The administration discourages discussion about contraception, condoms, or best practices for safe sex through its failed policy.
So, while students have continued to have sex despite their "education", they have not been provided with methods to do it safely. And the lack of information means more teen pregnancies and more sexually transmitted infections.
Legislation has been proposed in Congress to address this failed policy. The Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act would fund medically accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education for America's youth. More information about the bill is available from the Advocates for Youth.
