NYT/Reuters: Government Censured on Abstinence-Only Family Planning Policies

[DeepModem Mom]

Government Censured on Family Planning Policies
By REUTERS
Published: November 17, 2006

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A congressional report has criticized the Bush administration for failing to check if federally funded abstinence-only programs actually work to curb teen sex.

Advocacy groups joined the criticism, and also attacked the appointment of a top family planning official who they say opposes any use of contraceptives.

The advocates said both developments showed the government of President George W. Bush was determined to impose a deeply conservative Christian agenda onto federal programs.

The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said the Health and Human Services Department was funding controversial abstinence-only programs without checking to see whether they reduced teen pregnancy rates....

***

Several studies have suggested that abstinence-only education does not reduce teen pregnancy rates. And the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds high rates of teen sex even after several years of government-funded abstinence education programs....

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-contraception.html

[BootinUp]

1. the winds of change

they are blowin.... :)

[PlanetBev]

2. Can't wait

California congressman Henry Waxman has been on the trail of this for a long time.

No doubt in my mind he'll be right on top of these frauds(no pun intended)now that he's in the majority.

[Vogon_Glory]

3. We Don't Need No Shteenkeeng Facts

Right-wingers don't need no shteenkeeng facts! they've got Jayyyyyyyyyzuuuuussssss.

Empirical testing and analysing the evidence is for atheistic secular-hoomanist commie-libruls.

[ninkasi]

4. I was born in 1943

When I became a teenager, the only form of birth control was definitely abstinence. Most girls were only given a brief form of sex education, mainly hearing that sex before marriage was a sin, and that pregnancy outside of marriage was a cause for shame. There were quite a few couples I went to high-school with who "had" to get married. We still had sex, mind you, but we did not get the education necessary to prevent these "have to" weddings. They pretty much failed.

In my case, hearing the repeated mantra that sex outside marriage was evil, that it should only be to produce children, etc., was information I pretty much ignored. My steady boyfriend and I had sex whenever we could, and I thought that anything that felt that good couldn't be evil. We lucked out, I guess, because my boyfriend knew about, and used condoms. When I decided that there had to be more to my life than marrying him, we broke up. I can't tell you how disastrous marriage would have been for us.

Young people should be given all of the information necessary in order to prevent STDs, and pregnancy. Using logic doesn't always work with hot-blooded young people. I grew up in the 50s, during the time of the "Happy Days" era, and it didn't work then. It won't work now. The abstinence only group is more interested in meting out punishment and passing judgement than preventing heartbreak.

[Spangle]

6. Educating to be ADULTS

When religan is brought into this.. that is when it all gets screwed up.

We teach kids the things they need to know as adults. Alot of things kids are taught, they don't have to 'use' for years. But the knowledge is there for them to draw on when the time is right. The knowledge has to be given before they reach the 'know it all' stage. LOL! Cause after that stage kicks in, they.. well.. they 'know it all.'

Kids in those abstinence programs are taught nothing. It's a playing makebelive to think that a person will NEVER have sex. It's makebelieve to assume that if the kids decide to break the 'abstinece' that they will THEN KNOW how to protect themselfs. Or that after they get married, they will 'know' all they need to know.

What kids learn in REAL sex education, is information that they can use for a life time. They can use the information 'before' they decide to do anything. They can use it if they decide to do something before marriage. They can use it during marriage... and sadly, when they are divorced and running around again.

Those programs are a waste of our tax money. And I refuse for my kids to attend them. My eldest waited well past the age that all her friends were fulling around. And she KNEW about sex, etc.. years before the rest of them did. The knowledge didn't make her rush out to be the 'first one' in her group. It did, however maker her wiser to the game. And when she chose to join in, she was well 'protected', honest with herself, and not ashamed.

[caseycoon]

5. There is no end to the stupidity of *.

I swear he keeps a list of the worst possible people to put in any positions that open up & only selects people from that list!

[Roy]

7. Faith based programs working as planned....

It is no accident that these programs don't woek. These types of programs are not designed to work. They are designed to buy blind support with tax dollars.

[williesgirl]

8. We need to CANCEL these programs in 1st Qtr 2007. recommended

Pull back all funding. Amen.