Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says
By Ceci Connolly

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 2, 2004

Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found.

Those and other assertions are examples of the "false, misleading, or distorted information" in the programs' teaching materials, said the analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found...read on

So just lie to the kids and see how it works. That's a great initiative.

Here are some of them:

Among the misconceptions cited by Waxman's investigators:

• A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person."

• HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears.

• Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.

...One curriculum, called "Me, My World, My Future," teaches that women who have an abortion "are more prone to suicide" and that as many as 10 percent of them become sterile. This contradicts the 2001 edition of a standard obstetrics textbook that says fertility is not affected by elective abortion the Waxman report said.

I have no objection talking about abstinence as a surefire way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases," Waxman said. "I don't think we ought to lie to our children about science. Something is seriously wrong when federal tax dollars are being used to mislead kids about basic health facts."

Where was the time tested golden oldie about masturbation: "If you touch yourself, you'll go crazy or grow hair on your palms. Funny... the only thing that did was keep me looking at my hands with a magnifying glass.

How successful was the "Just say no to drugs."

from Salon

In October of 2001, the researchers published their latest report assessing the cumulative effectiveness of all the new ads that had been issued by the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign since its launch. The good news was that drug ads targeting parents often do encourage parents to talk to their kids about drugs. The bad news was that, thus far, the media campaign hadn't had a measurable impact on the kids at all.

There is a much greater inherent problem in teaching abstinence from sex than in "Just say no to drugs"

Remember the phrase"It's the economy stupid!"

Well here's a new one: "It's the biology stupid!" It's human nature, it's the body wanting to do what it is created for; procreation. Most people and especially teens can't turn off their sex drive any more than they can stop taking breathes of air.

There is no harm in trying to teach abstinence, it is just doomed to failure. If you are going to teach a concept, at least be honest in your approach. Having an truthful dialogue will go much farther than any lie being told to perpetrate an idea!