Abstinence-only sex education has no effect on whether kids have sex


The Washington Post reported that a national study of 2000 children from elementary or middle school into high school, authorized by Congress in 1997, found that abstinence-only sex education does not keep teenagers from having sex or change the likelihood they will use condoms when they have sex.

Slightly more than half of the kids in the study received abstinence-only sex education. When the study ended the average kid was just under 17 and half of both groups had had sex. In both groups, fewer than a fourth used condoms every time and more than a third had had two or more partners.

The federal government spends $176 million each year on abstinence-only education and it doesn't work according to the government's own study. An official at the Department of Health and Human Services said the administration has no intention of changing funding priorities in light of the study.

For years critics have been complaining of inaccurate information about condoms in abstinence programs funded by the government. The Bush administration continues to ignore the complaints. Some students are taught that the chance of getting pregnant while using a condom is 1 in 6, but in fact the chance of an unintended pregnancy while using condoms is about 2 percent over the course of a year if condoms are used properly every time. Some students are taught that condoms break or slip off 15% of the time, but in fact they break or slip off only 4% of the time. Some students are taught that condoms fail to prevent HIV infection 31% of the time, but in fact they prevent infection 80-87% of the time.

Posted: Saturday - April 28, 2007 at 04:04 PM          

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