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‘Abstinence’ Conference Abstains from the Truth 10/30/2003 Sex educators present cornucopia of contraception and sexual experimentation rather than a message of abstinence.
Special to Concerned Women for America
Despite federal and state government mandates, and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars spent on it since 1997, “abstinence-only” sex education simply doesn’t work, experts say. That, at least, was the unchallenged opinion of “experts” from New Jersey and 30 other states who gathered on October 20 for a sex education conference sponsored by Rutgers, New Jersey’s state university. The conference, called “20 Years of Great Sex (Ed),” celebrated the two-decade anniversary of the state’s decision to require sex education in public schools.
“Abstinence-only” is ineffective, the experts said, because America’s teenagers continue to contract sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), experience unwanted pregnancies and generally choose not to abstain.
This ignores the solid successes recorded by abstinence programs like Washington, D.C.’s Best Friends, and the latest data showing a steady decrease in teen pregnancies over the last 12 years, as abstinence programs have grown more popular.
In Africa, half a world away, a crash program in abstinence education has lowered the rate of AIDS infection in Uganda from 30 percent in 1992 to just 4 percent in 2002.
What’s wrong with America’s abstinence education programs? Could it be that our educators aren’t committed to it, don’t believe in it, and, in fact, don’t teach it, even while they collect federal dollars designated for “abstinence-only” programs? The Rutgers conference’s many workshops and exhibits, and its long list of sponsors and “collaborating organizations,” plainly indicated what sex educators do teach.
Displayed products included condoms, contraceptive sponges, shields, syringes, pills, creams and patches. A wide selection of books, videos, and lesson plans presented the position that homosexual activity is just one of many sexual “choices” or “options” available to teen-agers. This cornucopia of contraception and sexual experimentation can hardly do much to promote a message of abstinence.
Although most of the sex educators interviewed said abstinence until marriage was a desirable “ideal,” few said it could be realized. Barbara Huberman, director of education and outreach for Advocates for Youth, based in Washington, D.C., said, “The adults aren’t abstaining, either. … We teach that sex is an important decision in young people’s lives. But we have to accept the fact that in this culture, many older adolescents are going to be sexually active.”
Thus the workshops focused on such themes as Europeans’ acceptance of sexual activity among older adolescents; the apparent failure of “abstinence-only” education in Lubbock, Texas; developing “sexual literacy”; deciding whether or not to have an abortion, and where to get one; “promoting healthy sexuality”; and charting the progress of Rutgers’ Sex, Etc. newsletter and Web site. This “informational” publication for teens covers such topics as the importance of penis size, the value of having sex “only when it’s right for you,” and how to obtain contraceptives or an abortion without parents finding out.
Other workshops discussed the futility of “moralizing” to teenagers; respecting the “sexual orientation” of others; analyzing “youth culture” and the contraceptive marketplace, and how to counter “homophobia.”
Many of the conference’s “collaborating organizations” help fund sex education programs in New Jersey and train sex education teachers. They include Planned Parenthood (which spent $40 million, nationally, on sex education during fiscal year 2001-02, according to Stop Planned Parenthood’s “Ryan Report”), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Organization for Women (NOW), and the New Jersey Education Association (very left-wing, even for a teachers’ union).
Organizations “that have agreed to help” include: the American Psychological Association (infamous for its recent debate over whether pedophilia is “a positive experience” for children), Lambda Legal (currently suing to establish homosexual “marriage” in New Jersey via the state supreme court), the Kinsey Institute and NARAL Pro-Choice America.
“All these organizations have a firm belief in providing young people with honest, medically correct information on which to base decisions in their daily lives,” said Susan Wilson, executive director of the Rutgers-based Network for Family Life Education, which organized the conference. The list is devoid of pro-family organizations—no New Jersey Family Policy Council, New Jersey Physicians’ Resource Council, Concerned Women for America, Focus on the Family, Family Research Council or Traditional Values Coalition.
“The conservative organizations don’t believe in our basic premise,” Wilson said, demonstrating a gift for understatement.
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., this writer asked Uganda envoy Richard Kabonero what he thought might be wrong with America’s abstinence education, as contrasted with Uganda’s roaring success. As a diplomat, Kabonero said, he couldn’t comment on America’s programs. But when told of the list of organizations at the Rutgers conference, he replied: “We don’t buy into any theory put out by any of those experts. In Uganda, we stress abstinence first and foremost. And it works.”
Mr. Kabonero has personally observed sex education programs and AIDS prevention clinics in several U. S. cities. He said he has noticed “some resistance” to teaching genuine abstinence. He, too, has mastered the art of understatement.
Lee Duigon is a free-lance Christian writer and former newspaper editor from Metuchen, New Jersey, who writes on cultural topics. He wrote this piece for CWA’s Culture & Family Institute.
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