March 25, 2008 9:20 AM
Why do liberals hate abstinence education?
Isn't it weird how the "pro-choice" crowd does not want kids informed about abstinence - thereby eliminating that as a viable choice?
Liberals Want Federal Abstinence Education CutPresident Bush’s 2009 budget proposal includes $204 million to support Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE), but dozens of liberals in Congress want all abstinence money axed from the budget.
Seventy-six representatives — all abortion supporters — have signed a letter sponsored by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., asking the House Appropriations Committee to cut all abstinence-education funding. The letter follows another letter, sent by Reps. Lee Terry, R-Neb., and Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., urging support for CBAE funding and current guidelines.
The debate surfaces on the heels of a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that shows one in four teen girls in the U.S. has a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
“With 3 million teen girls infected with STIs, safer sex in adolescents does not exist,” said Linda Klepacki, sexual health analyst for Focus on the Family Action. “For the current and future health of teens, we must teach them how to have strong relationships not based on sex.”
The American Journal of Health Behavior published a study in January showing that students who receive abstinence education are 50 percent less likely to initiate sex. Furthermore, last year’s report by the federal Department of Health and Human Services showed that some comprehensive sex-education curricula taught in the nation's schools essentially have no impact on behavior.
Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said it is important to look at the growing body of research showing abstinence education as the only curriculum that successfully addresses teen pregnancies, STIs and the emotional consequences of teen sex.
“Abstinence education is so much more than a ‘Just Say No' approach,” she said. “It is time that society puts public health in front of ideological agendas and recognizes that abstinence education is the best health message for America's youth."
Why do you think liberals want so badly to break down all tradition and mores so that children can experience the "freedom" that many eventually found robbed our lives of meaning and dignity?
Why, when sexually-transmitted diseases have risen astronomically among teens, do liberals continue to think MORE "comprehensive sex ed" (comprehensive, except for abstinence as an option) will fix the very problems it has helped create by condoning teen sex? (After all, did we approach the problem of teen smoking with "They're going to do it anyway, so let's teach them to use filters?")
Hint: abortion is a multi-billion dollar business in this country.
During its 2005-2006 fiscal year, the nonprofit Planned Parenthood Federation of America performed a record 264,943 abortions, attained a high profit of $55.8 million and received record taxpayer funding of $305.3 million.From Planned Parenthood reports record aboritons, high profits.
Posted in Current Affairs, Pro-Life Issues, Teens and Tweens | Permalink
Comments
That explains why PP hates it. But liberals in general hate it because it's based on the assumption that people are capable of resisting urges and behaving responsibly, both of which concepts are totally anthethetical to modern liberalism, which holds that people are just dumb animals who need handlers.
Posted by: Christina | March 25, 2008 9:56 PM
I don't know any liberals who hate abstinence education. I do know many, including myself, who hate abstinence-only education (and I am a proponent of chastity until marriage). Statistics show that teens who have abstinence-only education are just as likely to have sex, but less likely to take appropriate precautions. As much as I hope my children wait until marriage to be sexual, I would rather they make the reversible mistake of having protected sex than an irreversible one leading to an unintended pregnancy or incurable STI.
Incidentally, a wonderful book on chastity is "Real Sex" by Lauren Winner
Winner does an excellent job of explaining why Christians are called to refrain from sexual activity outside marriage. I think many more people, including young people, could be reached by this kind of reasoned approach rather than the simplistic "keep it zipped" jingoism or the histrionic exaggeration of condom and birth control failures.
Posted by: verena | March 27, 2008 11:13 PM
verena -
you actually had me with your reasonable response until you threw in the words "histrionic" and "jingoism." Then I went back and reread everything and realized your agenda came shining through.
The "abstinence-only" approach that liberals accuse the abstinence-based proponents of is a red herring. As far as I know, no one is teaching or advocating abstinence only in public schools. We are advocating that students be taught that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective way to avoid pregnancy, STDs and a lot of distracting and potentially crippling emotional turmoil. We are also asking that the true figures on condom failure -from the Centers for Disease Control - be made public.
I have used a very reasonable approach with my own kids - not about saying no to sex because it's bad, but saying yes to waiting because sex is absolutely wonderful when you approach it the right way: studies show that people who have one life partner are the happiest and most satisfied. I want the best for my children.
I've spoken with Lauren Winner and I also like her book. What you don't seem to understand is that many Christian parents have been raising their children with this approach for years! We are not the rabid anti-sex fanatics you make us out to be.
Read your last sentence and think about how we approach smoking with kids.
And I have seen first hand that when a speaker is invited to advocate abstinence, no matter how nonjudgmental his approach and how thorough the regular sex ed curriculum is, he is tarred and feathered by the liberal community - and misrepresented by the same jingoism and histrionics you displayed in your last sentence :)
Posted by: barbara | March 28, 2008 6:47 AM
