It seems unbelievable that the Bush administration would continue to pursue a policy of abstinence-only education in the face of an utter dearth of evidence proving its efficacy.
Yet President Bush continues to push a program backed by $1 billion that provides federal funding only to schools that teach abstinence-only sex education.
The curriculum, which leaves youths without the knowledge they need to protect themselves from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, emphasizes that premarital sex is likely to have negative consequences.
Yet statistics show teenagers are not listening. Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that 46.8 percent of high school students say they have had sex.
And the Guttmacher Institute, which conducts research on sex and reproductive health, recently found that 95 percent of Americans surveyed said they have had premarital sex.
So it seems that abstinence-only education, which is required for any school that receives federal funding, does not deter people from having sex, but just leaves them without the knowledge they need to have sex safely.
Kids are not being taught such basic information as how to use a condom, how to get birth control, or why anyone would need contraceptives in the first place.
Claire Brandis, a professor of pediatrics and health policy at UC San Francisco, related some myths she had heard from students to the San Francisco Chronicle.
She said some youths believe a woman can’t get pregnant the first time she has sex or if she has sex standing up.
She said someone in Southern California told her a woman could not become pregnant if she sat on a cold sidewalk after sex.
And there is no evidence showing that abstinence-only education is effective. In fact, according to Douglas Kirby, senior researcher at ETR Associates and the author of a 2005 survey that examined the efficacy of sex-education programs worldwide, the minimal amount of research that has been done on the subject proves the exact opposite.
He said none of the six abstinence-only programs studied had delayed the age when students started having sex.
But the Bush administration continues to pursue a policy that not only has never been proven effective, but has in the past been ineffective.
For example, when Texas pushed abstinence-only education it was rewarded with the second-lowest decline in teen pregnancy rates of all states. But instead of discontinuing an ineffective program, the Bush administration is pushing for those programs to be used elsewhere.
Though abstinence should be presented to students as an option (and a good one), it should not be taught as the only option.
Students should be taught about sex, not just told that sex is bad. They should be told the risks involved in sex. They should be told how STDs are transmitted, how common they are, what different types of STDs a person can get, and what they do to the body.
Teenagers should be taught how to protect themselves against pregnancy. They should be told where and how to get birth control, how to use condoms, and what to do if a birth control method fails.
Sex education should not be about preventing youths from having premarital sex, but should be about equipping students with what they need to make good decisions, and what to do if they do decide to have sex.