Yesterday, President Obama struck a blow to the abstinence-only community, cutting ALL of their funding streams in his new 2010 budget. Obama made it clear that our government should no longer fund these failed programs that promote misinformation, misogyny, discrimination and, of course, juggling and cinder block wielding abstinence clowns.
And the response from these abstinence-only organizations has ranged from angry to completely unhinged.
[…]
I’m sure you’re asking yourself, “what evidence”? The independent government-funded Mathematic study revealing the failure of abstinence-only programs? Rigorous reviews from both Advocates for Youth, and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, have identified which sex education programs are effective – and not one abstinence-only program made the cut. So the NAEA has been in panic mode.Their strategy has been two-fold: (1) rebrand themselves as something other than abstinence-only (they’re now “holistic” and comprehensive), and (2) ignore and dismiss all independent studies showing their failure and pretend that research shows that abstinence-only works.
[…]
Fortunately, President Obama didn’t buy the spin. But this isn’t stopping the NAEA, as they immediately sent out an action alert to contact Congress and force them to sneak funding for abstinence-only programs back into the budget, using the same rhetoric.
There’s a certain irony about a right-wing group complaining about the elimination of government funding for something that many on the right feel should be a subject dealt with only by parents.
LOL! Now, the kids are going to get taught that having sex is the only way to prevent pregnancy. ROFL!!!
Just when I thought Obama was just a more eloquent clone of Bush he goes and does this.
I wonder if he’ll undo more of Bush’s toxic legacy. (I’m pretty skeptical that he will).
Extremists everywhere. What would be so bad about trying both strategies. It is supposed to be about protecting youth.
Ahh, this finally should mark the end of ignorance-only sex ed.
# 3 LDA said, “Extremists everywhere. What would be so bad about trying both strategies. It is supposed to be about protecting youth.”
Well, both sides have an agenda. The ones who don’t want abstinence taught have $ to lose (Planned parenthood is afraid of losing abortion clients). The other side, probably religious reasons. In truth it’s not the job of the schools. Public schools can hardly teach kids how to read much less persuade them to control their emotions & hormones.
Ahh, this finally should mark the end of ignorance-only sex ed.
LDA…they’ve both been tried for quite a while, and the balance of the evidence isn’t even close. Abstinence-only sex ed is a colossal failure.
Some detail on this subject, I think I linked to this some time ago:
http://avert.org/abstinence.htm
Good. This belongs in the home, not the school.
There’s a certain irony about a right-wing group complaining about the elimination of government funding for something that many on the right feel should be a subject dealt with only by parents.
That’s because the two sides are pretty much the only side these days. They’re just griping about HOW to spend the money.
#1 – Patty-Oh – Now, the kids are going to get taught that having sex is the only way to prevent pregnancy.
Yeah, we all know abstinence worked!
# 9 Jägermeister said, “Yeah, we all know abstinence worked!”
Of course, have you EVER seen someone (absent fertility treatment) get pregnant while abstaining from having sex?
Next thing you know he will be cutting the programs started by “The War on Poverty”. They haven’t worked either.
Fat chance
#10 – Paddy-O
That’s if people buy the message… which obviously isn’t the case. And why should they?
Btw… here’s an interesting table.
#11 – BillM – Next thing you know he will be cutting the programs started by “The War on Poverty”. They haven’t worked either.
It could have… if the previous president hadn’t started a multi trillion dollar war. It’s all about priorities. For Bushie, it was more important to get even with ol’ Saddam and grease his old buddies, than it was to fight injustices at home.
I just loath TV sometimes.
Crystal Palin was on one of the morning shows declaring that “abstinence is the only guaranteed way to not get pregnant.”
The host never bothered to ask the question that SCREAMED to be asked:
“Weren’t you trying to practice abstinence before you got pregnant?”
>> Paddy-O said, on May 10th, 2009 at 5:27 am
>> LOL! Now, the kids are going to get taught that having sex is the only way to prevent pregnancy. ROFL!!!
Yeah. RIGHT… that’s EXACTLY what we liberals believe.
>> BillM said, on May 10th, 2009 at 7:48 am
>> Next thing you know he will be cutting the programs started by “The War on Poverty”. They haven’t worked either.
The War on Poverty worked.
>>In the decade following the 1964 introduction of the war on poverty, poverty rates in the U.S. dropped to their lowest level to date: 11.1% .
Or _WAS_ working until the damn conservatives cut the funding.
http://tinyurl.com/ylczm6
#5 — If government paid schools can not persuade teens to control themselves, government paid programs are going to persuade teens to control themselves. It is the parents’ responsibility to have an influence on their kids not the government, whether through schools or paid programs.
#12 Dig up the stats of teen preg rates comparing before sex edu started in schools to after…
# 14 Greg Allen said, “Weren’t you trying to practice abstinence before you got pregnant?”
Obviously not. There is no try, either you don’t have sex or you do. Unless, of course you believe that people don’t have a choice…
I don’t want my TAX DOLLARS to parent children to not have sex. Abstinence come naturally after marriage and not before.
Thank you, President Obama.
# 15 Greg Allen said, “Yeah. RIGHT… that’s EXACTLY what we liberals believe.”
If you judge by policies put forward, that is correct.
Gotta love our great president.
At the White House Correspondents Dinner, he poked fun at the Republican Party, saying it “does not qualify for a bailout” and conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh “doesn’t count as a troubled asset.”
I would say, Rush is more like a “Troubled Ass”
# 5 Paddy-O
I agree. I meant with parental approval. Also abortion is horrible but abstinence for the very few and contraception for the rest would help avoid it however the message is delivered.
# 6 Olo Baggins of Bywater
I said both not abstinence only OR other. A failure except where it wasn’t (one person is better than none). Both have ‘failed’ if you mean they did not help everyone.
Also I read your link and I do not mean combined strategies (e.g. abstinence-plus) I mean both individually. Again, with parental consent.
I think abstinence is unnatural, that comprehensive education is better and that it is better done by family or family friends, but I do not think everyone else must agree, which was actually my point.
I guess I fail to see the problem here unless it is a religious one. Abstinence Only programs work but not nearly as effectively as other solutions so why not use the most effective solution? Hand plows also work but they are not nearly as effective as machinery.
#10
> Of course, have you EVER
> seen someone (absent fertility
> treatment) get pregnant while
> abstaining from having sex?
This is a tautology. Here’s another, “No has ever gotten pregnant from the proper use of an intact and undamaged condom.” In both cases you are saying that if you use the proper technique or tool, that a pregnancy will not occur. That is self evident.
Just a guess, but I would bet that abstinence only programs do not provide reasonable options to teens. “You will not get pregnant if you do not have sex”. “Ok, suppose I want to have sex anyway, how can I prevent pregnancy”. “Nope. The only way is to not do it.” Teens are smarter than this. They know there are alternatives even if they do not know how to use them effectively.
Alfred, your logic and reasoning skills are astounding(ly bad).
#10 Paddy, yes: Mary.
LDA, I don’t follow what you’re saying. The successful programs, those that reduce both pregnancy and STDs, emphasize abstinence as the only sure way to avoid trouble. But they also teach what to do when you eventually choose to have sex. That second level, preparation, is what makes comprehensive programs successful, and what makes a-only an abject failure.
Here in Michigan a parent who believes this topic should be handled at home can opt out, it’s state law. I helped create the program at my kids’ school, and it’s opt-in. Despite the formerly available fed funding for a-only, in this heavily Republican county all the schools here use comprehensive programs.
Valerie is kinda hot!
#27,
She puts out too. So does Bristol.
Teens should just stick to anal sex and blow jobs, thats what Fundamentalist Christians do when they abstain.
Alphred1… re:
“Of course the statists will continue to force me to fund their pro fornication programs…”
Pro fornication programs don’t exist Alfred1, just like your other favorite figment.
…and re: “Before these programs…there was hardly a teen pregnacy problem…”
You must have a magic colon… you know…like a magicians hat.
#29, JimR,
Thank you for posting that before I had my coffee. Otherwise it would have been blown out my nose all over the keyboard.
FYI, Alphie had a really nice colon, but nor he is brain damaged and it isn’t so nice anymore.
😉
Abstinence works fine if you’ve been married for 10 years. It doesn’t work on teens with raging hormones and a “it’ll never happen to me” complex.