Sex, Lies and Public School Education

Prepare yourself for the type of sexual misinformation are you likely to hear public school teenagers say:

• “Touching another person’s genitals can result in pregnancy.”
• “A pregnancy occurs once out of every seven times that couples use condoms.”
• “Abortion of a first pregnancy causes mental retardation in later pregnancies.”
• “Twenty-four chromosomes from the mother and twenty-four chromosomes from the father join to create this new individual.”
  
• “Men tend to be more tuned in to what is happening today and what needs to be done for a secure future. Women are not as concerned about preparing for retirement. This stems from the priority men and women place on the past, present, and future.” 78
• “Women are more prone to suicide after an abortion and therefore need extra support from family and health professionals.” 62
• “Condoms fail 31% of the time.”
• “Studies are finding the STD chlamydia in the atherosclerotic plaque (‘hardening of the arteries’) often the cause of heart attack and strokes many Americans suffer.”
• “Sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects."
  
• "While a man needs little or no preparation for sex, a woman often needs hours of emotional and mental preparation." 87

As Art Linkletter once said:“Kids say the darndest things.”Unfortunately, it happens more often WHEN TEXTSBOOKS AND TRAINING PROGRAMS TEACH THIS STUFF AS FACT. The statements above were taken from eleven curricula being used in 25 states in the U.S.

And these statements aren’t isolated incidents, either.

A report from the UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM finds that over " two-thirds of 'abstinence-only' education programs are using curricula with multiple scientific and medical inaccuracies.

What are 'Abstinence-Only Programs?

In contrast to comprehensive sex education, that both encourages abstinence and teaches about effective contraceptive use abstinence only programs are allowed to mention contraceptives only to describe their failure rates. Abstaining from all sexual activity until marriage is the goal of these programs.

Are Lies and Scare Tactics Effective in Preventing Pregnancy?

No, they aren't. In the most comprehensive analysis of teen pregnancy prevention programs, researchers found that “the few rigorous studies of abstinence-only curricula that have been completed to date do not show any overall effect on sexual behavior or contraceptive use.”Instead, increased guilt and denial intensifies, and an unwillingness to engage in responsible behavior occurs when these student have sex.

Some call it "Repeat Virginity" as "Every time is the first time," in order to avoid "Pre-meditated Sex." ("Only slutty girls plan ahead and use birth control. I didn't mean to have sex, it just happened.") Eighty-eight percent of students will still have premarital sex, but at greater risk.

Columbia University researchers found that while "virginity pledge” programs helped some participants to delay sex, 88% still had premarital sex, but were less likely to use contraceptives when they did. Their rates of sexually transmitted diseases showed no statistically significant difference from those of nonpledgers, however they were less likely to seek STD testing. In contrast, comprehensive sex education has been shown to delay sex, reduce the frequency of sex, and increase the use of condoms and other contraceptives.


Where Does This Inaccurate Information Come From?

The federal government does not review or approve the accuracy of the information presented in abstinence-only programs. Although the curricula purport to provide scientifically accurate information about contraceptive failure rates, many (1) exaggerate these failure rates, (2) providing affirmatively false or (3) misleading information that misstates the effectiveness of various contraceptive methods in preventing or disease transmission.

At the request of Rep. Henry Waxman, a comprehensive evaluation of the content of the curricula used in federally funded abstinence-only education programs was issued. 18 It is based on a review of the most popular abstinence-only curricula used by grantees in the SPRANS program. The following types of problems were found:

Distorting data
Poor research and scholarship
Out-of-date information
Religious doctrine

Distorted Data:

Statement: “Touching another person’s genitals can result in pregnancy.”

The Fact: In fact, the source cited for this contention specifically states that “remaining a virgin all but eliminates the possibility of becoming pregnant.”53

Poor research and scholarship:

Statement: “Condoms fail 31% of the time.”

The Source? The 1993 study by Dr. Susan Weller, looked at a variety of condom effectiveness studies and concluded that condoms reduce HIV transmission by 69%.

The Facts: The Department of Health and Human Services, which issued a statement in 1997 informing the public that “FDA and CDC believe this analysis was flawed.” Nevertheless, they are repeated often and continue to be treated as fact. Another curriculum inaccurately attacks a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that demonstrated that condoms are effective in preventing HIV transmission stating:

"In the study, there was not a single case of HIV transmission between HIV-positive individuals and their HIV-negative partners using condoms consistently, despite a total of 15,000 acts of intercourse."

Not content with the facts, programs such as "Me, My World, My Future" argues:

“This study has been criticized by three different university groups as being seriously flawed in at least six areas, and therefore the results are questionable and not statistically significant.”

Fact: In fact, the “university groups” the curriculum writers referred to were individuals who sent letters to the editor to the journal in which the study appearedNo university groups were involved.

Out-of-date information:

The Statement: “Abortion of a first pregnancy causes mental retardation in later pregnancies.” or “Women are more prone to suicide after an abortion and therefore need extra support from family and health professionals.”

The Facts: Much of the data citing the dangers of abortion is from the 1970s. According to the American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs, “[t]he risk of major complications from abortion related procedures declined dramatically between 1970 and 1990.”55

Research says “[f]ertility is not altered by an elective abortion.”57

A expert panel of the American Psychiatric Association found that: “[f]or the vast majority of women, an abortion will be followed by a mixture of emotions, with a predominance of positive feelings.”63 A longitudinal study of young women aged 14 to 21 found that “[a]lthough women may experience some distress immediately after having an abortion, the experience has no independent effect on their psychological well-being over time.”64

Just Plain Wrong

The Statement: “Studies are finding the STD Chlamydia in the atherosclerotic plaque (‘hardening of the arteries’) often the cause of heart attack and strokes many Americans suffer.” or “Twenty-four chromosomes from the mother and twenty- four chromosomes from the father join to create this new individual.”

The Facts: They got the wrong bacteria: “Chlamydia pneumoniae” is a bacteria that spreads from person to person through respiratory transmission and is a common cause of pneumonia among children and adolescents. It is not sexually transmitted. It is an entirely different bacteriafrom Chlamydia trachomatis, which is sexually transmitted.

Statement: 24 chromosomes?
Fact: The correct number is 23

Blur Religion and Science

To quote the House of Representatives Report: "Although religions and moral codes offer different answers to the question of when life begins, some abstinence-only curricula present specific religious views on this question as scientific fact. One curriculum teaches:

“Conception, also known as fertilization, occurs when one sperm unites with one egg in the upper third of the fallopian tube. This is when life begins “Fertilization (or conception) occurs when one of the father’s sperm unites with the mother’s ovum (egg). At this instant a new human life is formed.”

A related question, also answered differently by people of differing beliefs, is whether a developing fetus is a person. Several curricula offer as scientific fact moral or religious definitions of early fetuses as babies or people, in the process supplying inaccurate descriptions of their developmental state." pg 15.

And Remember the 'facts' on gender roles?

“Men tend to be more tuned in to what is happening today and what needs to be done for a secure future. Women are not as concerned about preparing for retirement. This stems from the priority men and women place on the past, present, and future;" or my favorite: “While a man needs little or no preparation for sex, a woman often needs hours of emotional and mental preparation.”87

Here are a Few Other Gems Public High Schoolers are Learning:

“Just as a woman needs to feel a man’s devotion to her, a man has a primary need to feel a woman’s admiration. To admire a man is to regard him with wonder, delight, and approval. A man feels admired when his unique characteristics and talents happily amaze her.”;" “Tell the class that the Bride price is actually an honor to the bride. It says she is valuable to the groom and he is willing to give something valuable for her.”

I’ll let you find the answer to 'where do these facts come from?' in the text of the Federal Document itself:

http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/Documents/20041201102153-50247.pdf

The Nub?

This report finds that over two-thirds of abstinence-only education programs funded by the largest federal abstinence initiative are using curricula with multiple scientific and medical inaccuracies. These curricula contain misinformation about condoms, abortion, and basic scientific facts. They also blur religion and science and present gender stereotypes as fact.

And regardless of this, more and more of taxpayers dollars are earmarked for this purpose:

• In fiscal year 2001, abstinence-only education programs received approximately $80 million in federal funding
• In fiscal year 2004,; $167 million
• President Bush had proposed $270 million for fiscal year 2005
  

What’s Being Done?

A bill was presented several years ago, which would have required that only accepted accurate medical and scientific data be presented as facts to public school children.

It was roundly defeated…

References from the Federal Document Quoted Above:

(May 2001). The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Emerging Answers:Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy (Summary), 18 online at www.teenpregnancy.org/resources/data/pdf/emeranswsum.pdf.

An analysis of claims that certain abstinence-only programs had “worked,” found numerous methodological flaws in those evaluations, concluding:

“There do not currently exist any abstinence-only programs with strong evidence that they either delay sex or reduce teen pregnancy.”

Douglas Kirby, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Do Abstinence-Only Programs Delay the Initiation of Sex among Young People and Reduce Teen Pregnancy?,
6 (Oct. 2002) (online at www.teenpregnancy.org/resources/data/pdf/abstinence_eval.pdf). States that have conducted analyses of their abstinence-only programs have also not found positive results. A recent analysis of 11 states’ evaluations of some or all of their abstinence-only programs found some increases in participants’favorable attitudes towards abstinence but no lasting positive impact on behavior. Advocates for Youth, Five Years of Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Education: Assessing the Impact, 2–3 (Sep. 2004) (online at www.advocatesforyouth.org).
15. Kaiser Family Foundation Teenagers Who Take ‘Virginity Pledges,’ Other Teens Have Similar STD Rates, Study Says (online at www.kaisernetwork.org/
daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=22603), describing research by Peter Bearman and
Hannah Bruckner, After the Promise: The Long Term Consequences of Virginity Pledges
(paper presented at the National STD Conference, March 9, 2004, Philadelphia).
16. Id.
17. Douglas Kirby, Do Abstinence-Only Programs Delay the Initiation of Sex among Young
18. The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) and
NARAL Pro-Choice America have conducted reviews of some abstinence-only
programs. See www.siecus.org; www.naral.org.
19. HHS, HRSA, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, HRSA SPRANS Community Based
Abstinence Education Program Grantee Address List FY 2003 (online at
www.mchb.hrsa.gov/programs/adolescents/03granteedir.htm); Curriculum summaries
from applications of organizations receiving SPRANS abstinence funding (received May
7, 2004 from HRSA).
20. One program, The Art of Loving Well, is a literary anthology used as a course
supplement; it was not included in this review.People and Reduce Teen Pregnancy?, supra note 14, at 6.48 World Health Organization, id.
25. HHS, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau,
Special Projects of Regional and National Significance (SPRANS) Community-Based
Abstinence Education Project Grants, HRSA-04-077, Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance (CFDA) No. 93.110, FY 2004 Program Guidance Competing Announcement,
5 (“Projects must clearly and consistently focus on the Section 510 definition of
‘abstinence education’ and applicants must agree not to provide a participating adolescent
any other education regarding sexual conduct in the same setting”).
26. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Male Latex Condoms and Sexually
Transmitted Diseases (Jan. 2003) (online at www.cdc.gov/std).
27. Susan Weller, A Meta-Analysis of Condom Effectiveness in Reducing Sexually
Transmitted HIV, Social Science and Medicine, 1635–44 (June 1993).
28 HHS, Background on the Weller Study (Jan. 1, 1997).
36 Why kNOw, 97.29. Id.
37. Isabelle De Vincenzi et al., supra note 30.
38. Me, My World, My Future, 142.
39. J. Ambati et al., Heterosexual Transmission of HIV, New England Journal of Medicine,
1717 (Dec. 22, 1994); E. Morrison, Heterosexual Transmission of HIV, New England
Journal of Medicine, 1717 (Dec. 22, 1994); S. Brody, Heterosexual Transmission of HIV,
New England Journal of Medicine, 1717 (Dec. 22, 1994).
40. Navigator Guide Book [Teacher’s Manual], 47.
41. A.C. Green’s Game Plan Coach’s Clipboard [Teacher’s Manual], 34.
42. Reported incidences of syphilis have declined from 54.3 cases per 100,000 in 1990 to
11.9 in 2003, a 78% decrease. Also since 1990, the rate of gonorrhea has declined 58%;
and chancroid, an ulcer-forming bacterial infection, has dropped from 1.7 cases per
100,000 to practically zero. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Sexually
Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2003, Table 1: Cases of Sexually Transmitted
Diseases Reported by State Health Departments and Rates per 100,000 Civilian
49. Choosing the Best, The Big Talk Book [Parent Book], 39.
50. Another curriculum similarly states, “Couples who use condoms to avoid a pregnancy
have a failure rate of 15%.” Choosing the Best Way Leader Guide, 33.
51. Why kNOw, 91.
52. Sexual Health Today, slide 52, p. 112, Comments.
53. M.A. Schuster et al., (Nov. 1996). The Sexual Practices of Adolescent Virgins: Genital Sexual Activity
of High School Students Who Have Never Had Intercourse, American Journal of Public Health, 1570.
55 .American Medical Association (AMA), Induced Termination of Pregnancy before and
after Roe v. Wade, Trends in the Mortality and Morbidity of Women, Journal of the
American Medical Association, 3231–39, 3235 (Dec. 1992).
56. Me, My World, My Future, 157.
57. F. Gary Cunningham et al., Williams Obstetrics 21st Edition, 877 (2001). The textbook
notes that “[a] possible exception is the small risk from pelvic infection.” Another
textbook states that “[c]oncerns about infertility as a result of induced abortion seem
largely unfounded, except for the rare severe complication managed by hysterectomy.”
Steven Gabbe et al., Obstetrics: Normal and Problem Pregnancies, 4th Edition (2002).
62. Me, My World, My Future, 157.
63. N.E. Adler et al., Psychological Factors in Abortion: A Review, American Psychologist,
1194–1204, 1202 (Oct. 1992).
64. S. Edwards, Abortion Study Finds No Long-Term Ill Effects on Emotional Well-Being,
Family Planning Perspectives, 193–94 (July–Aug. 1997). The study used data from the
National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, with respondents aged 14 to 21 at the start of
research. Data was from 1979 through 1987.
78. Id.
80. Id. at 196.
87. Id.
99. Stedman’s Medical Dictionary (2004).