Abstinence Education vs Reality?

As expected, the arrival of the Obama administration has brought with it the long festering battle between pro-choice and pro-life forces (or as they would refer to each other, the pro-abortion and anti-choice forces). Both sides went at it again, but without much fanfare during debate on the democrats budget that passed recently. This time, it had to do with the concept of "abstinence education". This program got started in the late '90's, but was pushed hard by the Bush administration and conservatives in congress. Basically, it was a teaching tool that stressed to teenagers that it was in their best interest to wait to have sex until they were married. There were lots of other messages that were built into the course, including how to develop healthy relationships, personal responsibility, and decision making skills. What could go wrong?

Well, according to democrats in congress and liberal leaders in and out of government, the program is a miserable failure. I'm not sure how they reached this conclusion when most experts are saying it's too early to tell about success or failure on a large scale. There have been few studies that have made conclusions, and the Heritage Foundation has looked at the results. I'll talk about that first.

According to the report that was published by Christine C. Kim, a policy analyst, and Robert Rector, Senior Research Fellow, there were positive outcomes in 11 of the 15 cases that were studied. This means that there was a delay in the onset of sexual activity, reduced levels of early sexual activity, and fewer sexual partners among adolescents who participated in abstinence programs. There were an additional 5 cases where there was no significant impact.

These programs focused on various types of interactions with the students. Most of the classroom programs dealt with topics like the negative impact of teen preganacy, peer pressure, consequences of teen pregancy, and abstinence. The report stated that, "abstinent teens report, on average, better psychological well-being and higher academic achievement than those who are sexually active."

I understand that these results are based on what is reported by the teens themselves and are not always going to be 100% accurate. But it seems to me that there are only good lessons to be learned here by the studenst that are in absinence education. I don't necessarily believe in teaching "abstinence only", because that is closing your eyes to what is already happening in the real world that our kids live in. There should be a discussion of what to do if you do make the decision to have sex outside of marriage, the ways to keep yourself as safe as you possibly can. But it should be emphasized that there is only one sure way to avoid unwanted pregnancies, and that is abstinence.

However, the left is in a tizzy about abstinence programs. They believe that abstinence programs have no place in the classroom. Not even as part of sex education. NARAL Pro-Choice America's President, Nancy Keenan, recently praised congressional democrats for their work to totally defund abstinence-only programs from the appropriations bill for fiscal year 2010. I would expect nothing less from a pro-abortion organization, but what Keenan goes on to say really causes me to wonder if she lives anywhere near reality.

Keenan, in a press release praising the congressional action to make large cuts in abstinence education, said "Our teens need accurate information to stay healthy and protect themselves from unintended pregnancy and disease - and under the Bush era 'abstinence only' policy, they just didn't get it." What?!

Abstinence is the only proven way to protect yourself from "unintended" pregnancy. So to say that teens aren't getting accurate information is just ridiculous. They're getting information on the only 100% sure way to avoid disease and pregnancy. So much for the concern about the health of the child, they couldn't care less. Let's cut to the chase. The number of abortions performed in this country began dropping around 1990, from 25 per 1,000 women to 19.4 per 1,000 in 2005, the last year there are records for. That is the same time frame that saw an increase in the number of abstinence programs. It may have nothing to do with the numbers, or maybe it does. But NARAL and their supporters can't say that abstinence education has no value. That would be totally irresponsible. Kinda like the Obama administration backing the cuts.