Tell Congress to make accurate sex ed a priority

More politics. This one is from NARAL Pro-Choice America. An independent report released late last week proves that President Bush's ideological "abstinence-only" programs do not work. The report, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that students in abstinence-only programs are not more likely to abstain from sex or delay when they become sexually active. If you have the time, I recommend checking out the"executive summary" on pages 13-24 of the full report (PDF). Here are a few illuminating excerpts:

• Since 1998, $50 million/year in federal funding has been allocated for abstinence education programs
• A matching block grant program requires states to match this federal funding at 75%, resulting in a total of $87.5 million annually for abstinence education programs
• Abstinence education includes definitions that teachers must uphold, including the directive to teach that "a mutually faithful, monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of sexual activity," "sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects," and "bearing children out of wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child’s parents, and society"
• The results of a multi-year study of 2,057 youth found that youth in abstinence education programs were "no more likely than control group youth to have abstained from sex and, among those who reported having had sex, they had similar numbers of sexual partners and had initiated sex at the same mean age."
• "Overall, the programs improved identification of STDs but had no overall impact on knowledge of unprotected sex risks and the consequences of STDs. Both program and control group youth had a good understanding of the risks of pregnancy but a less clear understanding of STDs and their health consequences."

The Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act would create the first-ever federal sex-education program. Not only is Bush's abstinence-only approach ineffective, the programs mislead teens and censor teachers from giving students the truth about contraception. Congress should support honest, age-appropriate, and medically accurate sex education that promotes abstinence and provides young people with the information they need to protect themselves. Urge your Congressional representatives to co-sponsor the REAL Act.