The Real Cost of Abstinence-Only Sex Education

In light of John McSenile's selection of Christianist high priestess, Alaska Governor Sarah Plain, as his running mate, a new column in the New York Times is most timely. Since Palin and the Kool-Aid drinking base of the Republican Party believe in abstinence-only education - which is in keeping with their mindset of believing that merely not mentioning something will make it go away - it is important to look at the true cost of these religion based programs in terms of their ineffectiveness not to mention the millions of dollars being wasted. The statistics are appalling (click the chart above for a larger copy) and truly make all Americans look like a bunch of moronic idiots. This sad statistics are yet one more product of the failed Bush/Cheney regime which has put religious views before science time and time again. It is truly time that rational adults retake control of this country and banish the religious zealots back to the wilderness. Here are some column high lights:
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Sarah Palin has a pregnant teenager. And, she’s not alone. According to a report published in 2007, there are more than 400,000 other American girls in the same predicament. In fact, a 2001 Unicef report said that the United States teenage birthrate was higher than any other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S. tied Hungary for the most abortions. This was in spite of the fact that girls in the U.S. were not the most sexually active. Denmark held that title. But, its teenage birthrate was one-sixth of ours, and its teenage abortion rate was half of ours.

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If there is a shame here, it’s a national shame — a failure of our puritanical society to accept and deal with the facts. Teenagers have sex. How often and how safely depends on how much knowledge and support they have. Crossing our fingers that they won’t cross the line is not an intelligent strategy.

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Parents don’t like it either. According to a 2004 survey sponsored by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, 65 percent of parents of high school students said that federal money “should be used to fund more comprehensive sex education programs that include information on how to obtain and use condoms and other contraceptives.”

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We need to take some bold steps beyond the borders of our moralizing and discomfort and create a sex education infrastructure that actually acknowledges reality and protects our children from unwanted pregnancies, or worse.

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“International evidence suggests that high-quality sex and relationship education that puts sex in its proper context, that starts early enough to make a difference and that gives youngsters the confidence and ability to make well-informed decisions helps young people delay their first sexual experience and leads to lower teenage pregnancy levels.”