This is entirely in keeping with the Bush administration’s legacy of using religious ideology to influence objective science. Numbers and facts don’t mean anything to these people; neither do the the suffering of young people due to unintended pregnancies, disease and death, stemming from our leaders’ desires to strip these people of the resources they need to protect themselves.

This is a different kind of security that the administration, with all their tough talk, fails us on. Security is not brute force, or imposed ideology. Security is providing people the tools they need to protect themselves, their bodies and their livelihoods. Progressive Future is a new organization that is trying to change the dialogue around progressive values so illuminate both the hypocrisy of the extreme right and to debunk the myths they’ve built around the concept of liberalism. To read more: http://www.progressivefuture.org/priorities/common-val ues/security

Hummmmm....... Abstinence Only sex education results in high rates of sexually-transmitted diseases…

Maybe we can do somethiong with this.  Suppose we gengineer an STD - syphilis or gonorrhea for instance - to be (a) self limiting: it goes away all by itself after 48 hours, for example (I mean the overt symptoms, of course - it remains tranmissible for a much longer time...) and (b) it renders the catchee sterile…

Thus, if you are dedicated to abstinence only and fail with that “method” you wind up not reproducing. The course of time will take care of eliminating this particular breed of idiot from the human race shortly (a few decades) after they are removed from th ebreeding population.

READ SUNSARA TAYLOR--CDC TO WOMEN-PREPARE TO GIVE BIRTH IN THE REPORTS SECTION OF THIS WEBSITE AND THEN PUT THESE ARTICLES TOGETHER WITH ALL THE ACTIONS TAKEN BY THE RIGHT TO LIFERS AND KNOW THAT WITH ALL THE RELIGIOUS WARS AND DIFFERENCES IN DOGMAS THE ONE THING THAT THE PATRIARCHAL RELIGIONS AGREE ON IS THE CONTROL OF WOMEN AND THEIR SUBJUGATION TO THE DESIRES OF MEN, WHETHER IT MAKES ANY SENSE OR NOT.

PAY ATTENTION, THIS IS THE FUTURE OF OUR DAUGHTERS AND GRAND DAUGHTERS.  MR

I believe we may be missing the true nature of abstinence-only programs.  I was taught that if you tell a child, especially a teenager, not to do something and you don’t give a sufficient explanation as why not to do it, 9 times out of 10 that child or teenager will do it just to satisfy their curiosity.  Maybe this is a reverse psychology program!

While teaching abstinence is a good thing, it is foolish to think a large part of people will actually obey.
Heck the one hero the right , Reagan as a grown up couldn’t resist just say No Nancy and had her knocked up without benefit of clergy and fools expect teeens with raging hormones to all refrain.
Our immigration problem is the result of the Catholic Church’s NO Birth Control polciy which has people having kids they can’t afford
Send the bills to the demagouges who run the church an let them understand that their policy is the cause of more abortions, poverty and unwanted children

Enough faith-based moves! We rationalists need to be more assertive against them.Onward naturalist inquirers!

I am in favor of abstinence only sex education, but only if it is taught by people who actually remained abstinent before marriage, and who became abstinent again if their marriages ended. You can’t teach math if you can’t do the equations, and you can’t teach English if you can’t write a coherent essay.

The problem is that two-dozen teachers who qualify to teach abstinence only sex education are probably teaching other subjects.

Whenever I read another news item these days concerning the Blighted Right’s obsession with sex and their insistence on abstinence-only programs, I find myself inevitably reminded of the fact that Orwell depicted his fictional land of Oceania as having a movement known as the Anti-Sex League—that in his novel “1984”, citizens like Winston’s estranged wife who are obedient to Big Brother perceive sex as little more than a vehicle of procreation (in fact, Orwell mentions in passing that couples seeking permission to marry are refused if the partners are perceived to be sexually attracted to each other, and that the ideal is to conceive children via artificial insemination). The citizens of Oceania are taught to believe that pursuing a sexual relationship purely for enjoyment is a decadent and rebellious act. According to the story, the rationale for this is that the repressed sexuality of the citizens creates a heightened state of stress and anxiety which will eventually find catharsis in the Two-Minute Hate and other forms of nationalistic devotion…

Am I the only one who’s starting to detect some rather uncanny and disquieting parallels here?

I wonder how many thousands of years it will be until public money is used to teach kids how to abstain from having mental intercourse with religion?

Just who are these domestic insurgents who want to take away our freedom by assaulting the very foundations of our society with this irresponsible nonsense? Sexuality has nothing whatsoever to do with being human and therefore should be restricted to its one true, sanctified, God-intended purpose, marketing. It’s when we as a country deviate from that principle that all h*** breaks loose!

I am a therapist and working with adolescents is about 30% of my practice.  Through the course of treatment, the subject of sex inevitably arrises.  In fact, it is clinically necessary to find out if the client is sexually active.  Of course I strongly stress abstinence as the first choice and convey that it is the best way to assure one does not contract STDs and to prevent unwanted pregnancies.  I discourage them from engaging in sexual intercourse.  However, I am not an idiot, nor am I delusional.  I recognize as blogger Maria surmizes, that teenagers have “raging hormones” and the conscious and unconscious drive to procreate can be overwhelming.  When one is in the “heat” of the moment, a decision to “abstain” can and will be rationalized away or probably dropped as even an option. Therefore, although I tell my clients it would be wiser not to have sex (especially younger adolescents) they need to use protection. This is not to say that by condoning the use of condoms I’m giving them the “green light” to go ahead.  I tell them this because ethically as a professional and as a human being I must advocate for what is in their best interest. 
I don’t see the Bush administration policies on sex education advocating for anything but hyper -religious delusional mores and values.  The emperical evidence is clear.  Abstenience only educational programs are harming our young people.
Will

Unless they are dead, all teenagers have raging hormones. Fear, guilt,religion etc. cannot stop them from having sex. It is better to educate them on how to protect themselves from pregnancy, STD and AIDS than naively rely on a belief that they will remember what they were taught in Sunday School when their natural urges are moving into gear.

“According to a review of the program by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, Worth the Wait relies on messages of fear, discourages contraception, and attempts to make students feel guilty rather than educating them.”

That is how Churches keep their flocks in line. That is how the Bush Administration deals with the American populous.