STDs and Abstinence Only Education

A disturbing national study released this week has found that one in four girls and young women is infected with at least one of four common sexually transmitted diseases. The statistics are even more staggering for African American teenagers ages 14 to 19 - nearly half had a sexually transmitted disease, compared with 20 percent for white teenagers. The numbers are another indication that the White House's insistence on reserving millions of sex-education dollars for abstinence-only programs isn't working.
Certainly, abstinence is the best way to avoid STDs, but many teenagers are making the decision to have sex, and they need to know there are other ways to reduce the danger of disease or pregnancy. One researcher called the new study, presented at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conference in Chicago, "alarming" and evidence that the infections are a major public health threat. The diseases monitored in the study were human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis, a common parasite. The first national study of these diseases found that 15 percent of the infected girls had more than one STD. The findings clearly show that America can no longer afford the Bush administration's $1 billion abstinence program. Too much is at stake.

The Politics of Sex

Despite years of evidence clearly showing that these [abstinence] programs are ineffective and harmful, federal funding continues at over $200 million a year and growing. Under the Bush administration, abstinence-only subsidies have gushed forth -- creating a deluge of funding for far-right religious groups, amidst a dearth of federal oversight. . . . In reality 95 percent of Americans do have sex before marriage, most before they reach age 19. We must stop funding harmful and ineffective abstinence-only programs and instead support a more comprehensive approach to sexuality education and reproductive health.