Government-Funded Abstinence-Only Programs Routinely Teach Untruths
In December, Representative Henry A. Waxman released a devastating report "The Content of Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Education Programs." The Waxman report highlights the dangers posed to teens by abstinence-only programs-programs the Bush administration has funded over comprehensive sex education. Abstinence-only funding skyrocketed under President Bush to approximately $170 million a year and reaches millions of our nation’s young people. According to the report: "over 80% of the abstinence-only curricula . . . contain false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health." The report points to studies that prove that abstinence-only programs actually increase the likelihood that participants will engage in risky behaviors by providing false information such as suggestions that condom use does not prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer published an article highlighting the work of several local groups working to end these dangerous programs in our school. To read their story, titled An end to abstinence efforts?
click here .
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