In a direct attack against common sense, the ACLU has waged a relentless war against teaching kids the simple fact that if you don’t have sex, you don’t get pregnant or get STDs. The ACLU applauded a recent decision by the federal government to suspend funding to Silver Ring Thing because it was using the money to evangelize and convert people. While they are very correct that this was a misuse of funds, it is part of a larger campaign to kick abstinence education out of the schools as inherently religious. In fact, a recent study by Rep. Waxman (that has been debunked) cited religion as a primary concern about these programs. The ACLU agrees.
They cite evidence that abstinence education programs do not work. History disproves this as we haven’t had anything close to the rates of single mothers, teenage pregnancies, or STD infections before sex-ed was taught in schools. For centuries, if not millennia, telling people to reserve sex for marriage worked. If they want proof, look back 100 years. Abstinence works every time it’s tried.
The irony is that while suggesting there is proof that abstinence education does not work, Planned Parenthood (through their research arm) has inadvertently shown that sex-ed and easy access to birth control has not slowed unintended pregnancies, reduced abortion, or reduced STD infections. Their recent report says:
“54% of women having abortions used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users reported using the methods inconsistently, while 13% of pill users and 14% of condom users reported correct use.”
Easy access to contraception has INCREASED the rate of infections of AIDS in Africa. Condoms are unable to protect against the single biggest cause of cervical cancer, HPV. Sex-ed in schools is based around teaching children “Hey, its ok, go out, have fun, just use a condom and you’ll be ok.” There is no attempt to deal with the emotional maturity issues regarding sex which leaves children so unprepared that the rate of kids committing suicide increases with sexual activity. They talk about moral programming and how it is ineffective at teaching youth abstinence, but rely on moral programming to teach them to use condoms.
The facts are these: abstinence education works and throwing condoms at kids doesn’t. If you aren’t ready to be a daddy you might want to think about not having sex which is the only effective way to not become one.
Article comments
1 - John Bill
Where do you get your information from, Pat Robertson? Abstinence education only works in a world that is flat, only 6,000 years old, where the sun orbits the earth, where some fairy tale rules the universe, and where South American leaders are murdered by televangelists.
2 - nugget
John Bill that's a weak friggin response. I like how the minute a conservative posts anything at all about his views people like john bill are on it like white on rice to throw pat robertson, intelligent design, James Dobson, the KKK, Nazis, etc.
I understand your point John but I don't understand why you are childish about it. Would anyone else answer to this decent post? I'd rather read and not get involved...that is unless john bill wants to wrestle.
3 - Dave Nalle
Why does everything have to be a Jihad or a Fatwa now? It's tedious.
As for whether abstinence education works, of course it doesn't. Neither does traditional Sex Ed. Nothing you tell a kid at school is going to do much. Kids need good role models for good behavior, so how they're going to behave comes at least 90% from what they see at home.
Dave
4 - John Bill
The only time it (Abstinence education) works is when your parents and family teach it to you. This is really an excuse to teach religion in public schools. If you want to teach it to your children, by all means go ahead and do so. Schools should be for learning reading, writing, and arithmetic, not some religious agenda.
5 - Shark
Alternate Headlines:
"John Bambenek Declares a Crusade Against The Accurate Use of Language!"
"Bambineck Supports Right-Wing Euphemism Terrorists!"
"Bambineck Caught With Improvised Roadside Word-Bombs!"
"Bambineck Counters Liberal Jihad With Right-Wing Orwellian Newspeak!"
===
And my favorite:
"Bambineck's Spelling and Grammar: One Child Who Was Left Behind!"
6 - alienboy
Hi John, whilst appreciating the impulse behind posting this, and I'm sure to some extent we all would share your concern to a greater or lesser degree, you really need to think about the difference between fact and opinion.
Informed debate is going to move this discussion along much more interestingly if we are to try to reach out for some coherence on this difficult topic.
7 - Shark
Alienboy, I understand your squishy fontanelle has a little "itch".
Here's a brick wall.
~GO!
8 - Bob A. Booey
Bambenek,
When's the last time you've gotten laid? I know you're a bit older than most of the chicas down at U of I, but I used to know a couple of really easy ones if you're that uptight.
Plus, we know you're not like religious or whatever, so what's the big deal about sex and contraception?
And what about the WORLD COURT's role in all this, Bambenek?
That is all.
9 - Michael J. West
But the ACLU isn't against teaching abstinence. They're against teaching ONLY abstinence at the expense of real information about sex, i.e., abstinence-only education.
That's not an attack, direct, indirect, or collateral, against common sense. It's an all-out assault on ignorance. Of course, it should be said in sex education classes that abstinence is the ONLY 100% effective means of prevention of pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease. It HAS to be a part of sexual education.
But teaching either without including the other is bad education, because it encourages ignorance about a major aspect of human life. And THAT is an attack against common sense.
10 - RogerMDillion
"Of course, it should be said in sex education classes that abstinence is the ONLY 100% effective means of prevention of pregnancy"
Oh, yeah. That's not what Mary told Joseph.
11 - alpha
The idea of "intelligent design" teaches us that -- having once been young and full of hormonal rages just as were my friends who were female -- abstinence is not in the realm of viable possiblities.
It just plain won't happen while there are kids left to revel in sex -- lucky young buggers that they are. Leave them to it with enough education to protect them and, yes, teach them some responsibility so well they remember it during exciting moments.
12 - oldtimer
You get the urge -- if it feels good -- just do it.
What we need is more of this.
After all, since the ACLU has been in our face, haven’t things gotten better?
More promiscuity, more prostitution, more abortion, more homosexuality, more drugs, more moral decline…
The ACLU has made life so much better for the country!
Soon we will be in Utopia!
13 - Michael J. West
More homosexuality?
That's just part of that silly idea that people choose to be homosexual.
There would be no less homosexuality without the ACLU. There wouldn't even be any less homosexuality if we didn't teach our kids that it's okay to be gay. They'd still be homosexual, they'd just be closeted, repressed, having wives and children and cheating on them with men.
Man, that would be a better world, wouldn't it?
14 - Silas Kain
I'm with MJW. As this country continues down the path of social conservatism, homosexuals once again will be forced back into the closet. I don't want to see our society regress on this issue. As the President said, "In order to have a free democracy, you must have minority rights." He's absolutely right. No one is forcing a straight person into gay submission. It's a matter of human dignity, common sense respect and understanding. Just because a few religious denominations have turned homosexuality into an abomination doesn't make it so.
All these Bible thumpers who want the literal interpretation of the Good Book can't have it both ways. Where does this society stop after homosexuality? Do women lose the ground they gained in the 20th century because the Old Testament treats women like chattel? Do we send all the Blacks back to Southern plantations because God says it's OK to have slaves? Do we stone a prostitute to death in the town square? Does a firstborn have exclusive rights as a beneficiary of his father's estate? It seems to me that the Constitution's guarantee that a citizen will not receive cruel and unusal punishment is in direct opposition to the Old Testament.
15 - Dave Nalle
Personally I'm for a group masturbation hour instead of any kind of sex ed. Hand out porn, give them all cubicles and let them go at it during school.
Dave
16 - olddude
Let’s teach our kids more about homosexuality in public schools!
We need to teach our young people more about homosexuality. They very often find themselves confused about many issues " not the least of which is sex. The current debate over homosexuality, artificially causes some to question whether or not they are heterosexual.
This period of confusion is a critical time for young people. But the resulting confusion created by homosexuals about sexual orientation adds to the sexual confusion of young people. And even more insidious is the manner in which homosexual activists take advantage of this confusion by encouraging young people to experiment with homosexuality.
In one school, parents of freshmen students discovered that their kids had been invited by their high school history teacher to try homosexuality. Their history teacher handed out a questionnaire that included, “If you’ve never slept with a person of the same sex and enjoyed it, is it possible that all you need is a good gay lover?”
The nation’s public school system is being used by homosexual activists as a conduit, herding confused children into the homosexual community. Under the guise of protecting homosexual teens, young people are given unrestricted access to homosexual groups.
Perversions included homosexual pornography, stories which included same-sex incestuous acts between fathers and sons, videos on sadomasochism, and listings for phone sex, live sex shows, and images showing naked men, genitalia, and oral sex acts.
So let’s continue to confuse young people, and entice them into the world of the homosexual lifestyle. And once there, they can be lured into homosexual pornography, same-sex friendships and, ultimately, participation in homosexual activity.
Hey, Hey!
Gay is O.K.
17 - Silas Kain
The nation's public school system is being used by homosexual activists as a conduit, herding confused children into the homosexual community. Under the guise of protecting homosexual teens, young people are given unrestricted access to homosexual groups.
What a crock of unmitigated bullshit. First of all sex education begins and ends in the home. Parents have got to start being proactive and open with their children about sex. I'm a firm believer in parental discussions about sex at an early age. Give it to the kids in stages. The public school system should do nothing more than provide the clinical education. Teachers should be discussing what changes a body goes through and yes, even what methods of birth control are available. Insofar as the subject of homosexuality is concerned I see no reason why teachers can't encourage those students who think they may be gay to discuss it with their parents. A transparent communication between parent and child with regard to sexuality is a component that doesn't seem to work in the United States. It's almost as if we're just as sexually repressed as the Puritans who came over on the Mayflower. Sex isn't dirty. It's not something that should be whispered about in back alleys. It's a wonderful experience between two people who love each other and that's what the discussions should be about.
Perversions included homosexual pornography, stories which included same-sex incestuous acts between fathers and sons, videos on sadomasochism, and listings for phone sex, live sex shows, and images showing naked men, genitalia, and oral sex acts.
Oh, yeah, right. You people are so afraid of homosexuality that you'll stop at nothing to make us out to be pedophilic freaks who prey on the young. Some pedophiles are homosexual but only a few homosexuals are pedophiles. That's the bottom line that the right doesn't want people to understand. I've been the victim of a pedophile. Every time I hear about a kid getting abused I relive the first few times I was molested all over again. What happened to me did not cause my sexuality. Quite the contrary! I ran in the direction of a heterosexual life for years to escape the shame of what happened. What a waste of time. What a tragedy for my former wife and my kids. More lives got ruined in the process of my trying to do the "right" thing. Today I am in the Light and am not ashamed of who I am. I remain ashamed, however, of who I was because I allowed my community and my religion to suppress my individuality to the point where many lives got hurt along the way. I'll carry the burden of that guilt for the rest of my life while taking comfort in knowing that in the final analysis I did do the right thing.
18 - lelouisa
Comments describing the information and access to birth control of the non-virgin reveals the point of research necessary to bring rationality instead of emotionalism to the skill-based, family centered abstinence education vs comprehensive-which includes promotion and access of contraception, chemical and surgical abortion services and sexual expression prior to marriage.
19 - lelouisa
URL for comments are found here
20 - mitch
I have been practicing abstinence for 15 years, guess what? No pregnancy or STD. And they tried to fool me by saying it doesn't work? LOL
From a single wait till marraige black guy, thanks to club ac .com
And you hoped I was that dumb, to believe safe sex.
21 - Eve
"In a direct attack against common sense, the ACLU has waged a relentless war against teaching kids the simple fact that if you don't have sex, you don't get pregnant or get STDs."
That is a deliberate, dishonest misstatement of their position, made with no care for the truth.
The direct attack on common sense is your own- to have so little interest in your own veracity, yet act as if your opinions hold to a higher truth even though you do not.
The ACLU does not act pointlessly and does not hold the ridiculous position you describe.
As you well know, no one is trying to prevent anyone from teaching kids that fact.
The lie you are trying to disguise is that rather than a desire to give kids useful information, this is an attempt to substitute that "fact" in the place of all the real information that is needed for every other situation- the ones that will still exist as long as humans have the freedom to choose.
Witholding truth from someone so that they will be less able to make a choice in opposition to your will... Yes, it can work, but it is deceptive and manipulative, and it is never honorable, no matter how you insist on seeing it..
22 - Bliffle
I researched The Silver Ring Thing about a year ago because a friend was involved, and it turned out to be counter-productive: among SRT adolescents both abortion rates and unmarried birth rates went up, not down. Apparently, SRTers stopped using pills and condoms after making their vows, and then proceeded to break the vow with regularity. STDs also went up. I concluded SRT was a Bad Thing, at least for preventing sex, abortion, STD and teenage pregnancy.
As a corollary I concluded that SRT supporters are less interested in reducing abortion, STD, etc., than they are in futile stands against Just Plain Sex and inducing guilt in children.