Abstinence-Only Sex Education Is 'Ideology In Search Of A Methodology,' Opinion Piece Says

Although the U.S.' "national investment" in abstinence-only sex education "may not be a scam on the scale of Bernie Madoff, ... this industry has had standards for truth as loose as some mortgage lenders," syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman writes in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette opinion piece. Goodman writes that a recent Johns Hopkins study about teenagers and virginity pledges found "absolutely no difference" in the sexual behavior of those who took pledges and those who did not. She writes, "In fact, the only difference" was that teens who took pledges were "significantly less likely to use birth control, especially condoms." She adds that the "lesson many students seemed to retain from their abstinence-only program was a negative and inaccurate view of contraception." The study is "not just a primer on the capacity for teenage denial or the inner workings of adolescent neurobiology," Goodman writes. She adds, "What makes this study important is simply this: 'virginity pledges' are one of the ways that the government measures whether abstinence-only education is 'working.' They count the pledges as proof that teens will abstain," which is "like counting New Year's resolutions as proof that you lost 10 pounds."

Goodman continues, "Over the last eight years, a cottage industry of 'abstinence-only-until-marriage' purveyors became a McMansion industry." According to Goodman, annual funding for abstinence-only programs increased from $73 million in 2001 to $204 million in 2008, for "a grand total of $1.5 billion in federal money for an ideology in search of a methodology." Goodman writes that, "By now, there's an archive of research showing that the binge was a bust," and that "abstinence-only programs have been given failing grades for truth and effectiveness."

The "sorry part is that sex education got caught in the culture wars," continues Goodman. She writes that Bill Albert of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy said sex education has been framed "as a battle between 'those who wanted virginity pledges and those who wanted to hand out condoms to 14-year-olds.'" According to Goodman, "Meanwhile, six in 10 teens have sex before they leave high school and 730,000 teenage girls will get pregnant this year ... What the overwhelming majority of protective parents actually want is not a political battle. They want teens to delay sex and to have honest information about sexuality, including contraception." Goodman says that the "programs that work best combine those lessons." She concludes that teenagers "are not the only masters of denial. But we are finally stepping back from the culture wars. We are, with luck, returning to something that used to be redundant -- evidence-based science. That's a pledge worth signing ... and remembering" (Goodman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/2).


Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.


© 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.