The Problem With Abstinence

A bill called the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act has been introduced into Congress by Senator Frank Lautenberg and Representative Barbara Lee (Responsible). The bill “would provide $206 million per year in grants to states for the purpose of conducting comprehensive sexuality education programs.” (Ibid.). The programs would be “medically accurate”, would not “teach or promote religion”, and most importantly would stress “the value of abstinence without ignoring those young people who have had sexual intercourse” (Ibid.). “Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., introduced the REAL Act in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on March 22, 2007.” (Ibid.). The bill is pending, having been referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Subcommittee on Health in the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively (GovTrack.us).

Comparisons of teenage STD infection rates before and after “abstinence-only” education are not readily available, which seems to indicate that the programs have not produced any significant changes. It is true that abstinence is the only 100% effective way of preventing pregnancy. It is more effective than condoms and birth control, and the only way to get an STD without having sex is by sharing needles or sharing blood between open wounds. “Abstinence-only” programs and proponents of course tout these facts as reasons why the programs work and should continue. They also state that proponents of comprehensive sex education do not recognize or would not teach abstinence as a way of avoiding pregnancy and STDs. This is untrue, as most advocates for comprehensive sex education promote the teaching of abstinence as effective for those who don’t plan on having sex, but recognize that contraceptives must still be taught as a way to protect teenagers who are sexually active from pregnancy and STDs. With a new presidential administration in 2009, there may come a breakthrough in the long battle to provide teenagers with sex education that truly teaches them about the risks of sex while giving them the knowledge and the tools to protect themselves if they choose to have sex.