NEW YORK, NY — While the Bush administration continues to insist that abstinence-only education is not only an excellent investment for the nation’s school systems but also worth pushing on anyone under the age of 30, Americans appear to be thinking differently.According to a recent study that solicited feedback from 1,100 American adults, 82-percent preferred school programs that include pregnancy and STD prevention education along with abstinence encouragement. Half of those surveyed were completely opposed to abstinence-only programs.
Interestingly enough, political party membership had little influence on opinions, with 70-percent of self-described conservatives supporting the comprehensive approach to sex education, with 40-percent of those opposing abstinence-only courses.
Dr. Amy Bleakley of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia is the lead author of the study, which she believes serves to “highlight a gab between policy, and science, and public opinion.”
Although uncertain as to whether the information will change the minds of policy-makers who claim they represent the will of the people, Bleakley told Reuters Health that “We just want to bring this to their attention.”
As it stands now, the federal government insists that abstinence-only instruction, which runs American tax payers a tidy $170 million each year, is not only the superior moral path for educators but also the path that American citizens want their children placed upon. Federal rules for receiving the funds require that educators only mention birth control methods, including condom use, when discussing their failure rates.
Actual science, however, has not revealed that such teaching methods result in lower teen pregnancy rates or later sexual experiences.
In order for educators to receive funding, eight requirements must be met, based on criteria created in 1996. One of those requirements is that abstinence before marriage be promoted as the “expected standard of human sexual activity,” something that clearly flies in the face of American reality, where marriage is at an all-time low and the number of unmarried but sexually and romantically involved same-sex and opposite-sex households is at an all-time high.
Bleakley believes that evidence exists to show that comprehensive sex education contributes to the prevention of STDs including HIV, as well as other possible negative consequences of youthful sexual experimentation. Her teams’ findings appear in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
