Abstinence-Only Sex Education Programs Costly, Ineffective, Editorial Says

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 14 Jan 2009 - 4:00 PST

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President-elect Barack Obama could fulfill his pledge "to weed out inefficient and bloated federal programs" and also "save $200 million a year for the taxpayers" by eliminating federal funding for abstinence-only sex education programs, a Philadelphia Daily News editorial states. It continues that "the U.S. government has continued to pour money into abstinence-only education, a total of $1.5 billion so far," even though "[o]nly the people who collect a paycheck from them say that they work."

A study released last month found that teenagers who took "'virginity pledges' were just as likely as their peers to have premarital sex, but they were less likely to use condoms or other forms of birth control," the editorial states. According to the editorial, the findings indicate that abstinence-only programs "don't lead to more sexual abstinence -- and actually may lead to more unsafe sex, which means more unwanted pregnancies and more sexually transmitted [infections]." It notes that another report recently released by CDC found that teen birth rates have increased in 26 states after a 14-year decline.

According to the editorial, the "best method for preventing teen pregnancy is no mystery." In Western Europe, which "figured it out long ago," implementing comprehensive sex education and increasing access to contraception "has resulted in significantly lower teen pregnancy rates, abortions" and STIs, the editorial states. It continues that the organization Advocates for Youth has stated that if the U.S. reduced teen birth rates to that of the Netherlands, "it would mean 617,000 fewer pregnancies here and a first-year saving of $542 million." The editorial concludes, "Abstinence-only programs are the definition of 'waste, fraud and abuse.' It's time for Congress to stop those government checks" (Philadelphia Daily News, 1/12).

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