Tag Archives: Topic: Abstinence

Randy O’Bannon at Life News: When abortions drop, for whatever reason, that’s a big deal. Precious unborn lives have been saved and their mothers saved from making a terrible mistake.

KSEE24.com: A civil suit was filed Tuesday morning at the Fresno County Courthouse. Clovis Unified School District Officials tell us the news of the lawsuit came as a pretty big surprise. Those who filed the complaint say the district’s “abstinence only” message is a huge disservice to students, and it’s putting them at higher risk for STD’s and unwanted pregnancies. They say the district is failing to provide important information; thus breaking the law.

Marvin Olasky at Townhall: Are evangelicals ready to join the crowd in recommending that unmarried individuals use contraceptives?

LifeNews: “The Subcommittee report also effectively sets the record straight by clarifying the two sex education approaches. Almost 75% of 15-17 year olds have never had sex and our federal sex education policy should reinforce these positive trends,” Huber added.

LifeNews: A book about sex by J. Budziszewski uses natural law arguments to persuade young adults of the moral benefits of purity . . . But what about those who think that morality requires a bit more of us? How can they persuade young people that reserving sexual intimacy for marriage is the right thing to do? In his book On the Meaning of Sex, popular author and political philosopher J. Budziszewski attempts to make such an argument on the basis of human nature and natural law. He begins with an anecdote from teaching.

One News Now: A newly released study from the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) presents a decisive challenge to the content, research, and funding of comprehensive sex education.

Michael Benjamin at NY Daily Post: Is anyone in New York City truly surprised by teacher-student sex in our schools?

TIME: The state has passed a long-mocked bill allowing parents to sue teachers and other outside parties for “promoting or condoning ‘gateway sexual activity’ by students.” The controversial measure is intended to curb teen pregnancy and is an offshoot of the state’s growing abstinence-based sex education program.

Baptist Press: Utah Gov. Gary Herbert vetoed a bill that would have prohibited sex education classes in public schools from teaching alternative lifestyles and giving detailed information about intercourse and contraception.

Tennessean: Tennessee lawmakers backed away from controversial legislation that would have further restricted discussions about homosexuality before high school, presumably ending the two-year battle over how much schoolchildren should be told.

PostCrescent.com (AP): The state Assembly passed bills limiting insurance coverage for abortions and mandate teaching abstinence in schools during a late-night session that went into early Wednesday morning as they pushed to finish their work for the year by the end of session Thursday.

CNN: If the bill is signed by Gov. Gary Herbert, Utah’s teachers will not be allowed to inform students about contraceptives, “the intricacies of intercourse,” homosexuality, or sexual activity outside of marriage.

The Washington Post: Young elementary school students should use the proper names for body parts and, by the end of fifth grade, know that sexual orientation is “the romantic attraction of an individual to someone of the same gender or a different gender,” according to new sexual education guidelines released Monday by a coalition of health and education groups.

Times Union – Class is over for Planned Parenthood: In October, a small group of parents raised objections after they learned some students were allegedly told that abstinence allowed for oral sex and that some high school classes had condom demonstrations.

OneNewsNow.com: Did you hear about New York City’s comprehensive drug education program for all students in middle school and high school? The teachers inform the students that abstaining from drug use is best, but since it’s impossible to stop them from doing drugs, the teachers give out cards that list the most common drugs, explaining which are the most dangerous. They also distribute needles to kids who are involved in shooting drugs to help them avoid getting contaminated needles, thereby reducing their chances of contracting or passing on communicable diseases.

Christianity Today: Evangelical abstinence campaigns have shifted their emphasis from “just say no” to sex before marriage to “just say yes”—within marriage, that is, says Christine Gardner. In Making Chastity Sexy (University of California Press), the Wheaton College communications professor examines the rhetoric of three evangelical abstinence organizations, comparing them with an abstinence campaign in sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV/AIDS is a common threat

he Department of Health and Human Services released a new Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for initiatives that promote healthy marriages — as long as those projects don’t include abstinence-education programs.

AP: After simmering for months, a wide-ranging and acrimonious debate over government-funded access to contraceptives in the Philippines has entered the country’s Congress.

Christian Concern for Our Nation: A proposal requesting that information about the benefits of sexual abstinence be included in sex education has passed its first vote in the House of Commons.

Dallas Morning News: About $7 million over the next two years would be moved from state-funded family planning services into crisis pregnancy center funding under an amendment passed by the Texas House during the budget debate.

Catholic Culture: “David Quinn of Ireland’s Iona Institute notes that there is a strong case to be made for nearly the opposite argument: that those who rely on condoms are responsible for thousands of African AIDS deaths.” | New book says Western opposition to fidelity message is killing millions of Africans

Ross Douthat writes at the NY Times: “This is what’s at stake, for instance, in debates over abstinence-based sex education. Successful abstinence-based programs (yes, they do exist) don’t necessarily make their teenage participants more likely to save themselves for marriage. But they make them more likely to save themselves for somebody, which in turn increases the odds that their adult sexual lives will be a source of joy rather than sorrow. It’s also what’s at stake in the ongoing battle over whether the federal government should be subsidizing Planned Parenthood.”

Michael J. New writing at National Review Online: “This focus on the economy as the reason for the teen-birthrate decline is rather puzzling . . . The benefits of abstinence-only sex education and greater sexual restraint, as always, received scant coverage from nearly all mainstream media outlets.”

KansasCity.com (AP): “A state board of education member says the Kansas Department of Education should not participate in an HIV/AIDS conference because it promotes safe sex rather than abstinence.”

Daily Local: “Some parents say a health curriculum supplement under consideration by the Downingtown Area School District is inappropriate. District officials were poised to make a decision Friday regarding the sexual-education program Amnion that teaches abstinence-only education.”

Conn Carroll writing at The Heritage Foundation / The Foundry: “On issue after issue, this administration has dressed up their political proposals behind the mantle of ‘science,’ and on every issue there simply is no scientific consensus to support their political positions.”

Washington Post: “Now, the Obama administration has entered the politically sensitive debate, promising to put scientific evidence before political ideology. A $110 million campaign will support a range of programs, including those that teach about the risks of specific sexual activities and the benefits of contraception and others that focus primarily on encouraging teens to delay sex.” | See comments from Conn Carroll at The Heritage Foundation / The Foundry.

The Body (AP): “Helena school district trustees voted 6-3 on Oct. 12 in favor of a revised sex education curriculum . . . But the changes are not enough for some religious and conservative parents who argue that sex education should be taught at home, not at school. ‘This is going to send people into isolation,’ said school board member Trevor Wilkerson. His proposal to send the curriculum back to the planning stage and to highlight the sex education component for further scrutiny was rejected.” | For background, see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/state-montana+topic-sex-indoctrination/

OneNewsNow: “Fifteen Planned Parenthood affiliates were awarded grants — or a part of a wining grant as a subcontractor — totaling nearly $19 million. The grants are part of President Obama’s ‘Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative’ that focuses less on abstinence and more on contraceptive use.”

FRC: “This morning, Indiana University released the findings of a ‘National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior’ by its Center for Sexual Health Promotion. The fact that there’s considerable overlap between this group and the Kinsey Institute (also at Indiana U.), which was founded by the notorious sex researcher and degenerate Alfred Kinsey, suggests that the data should be taken with a grain of salt.” National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior

NYT: Condom Use Is Highest for Young, Study Finds
Washington Post: Dirty talk? New sex survey’s surprising stats

LifeNews: “Two pro-abortion senators introduced a bill on Wednesday that would permanently cut federal abstinence education funding. Despite the evidence showing abstinence programs reduce sexual activity and help teens make positive decisions, Senator Frank Lautenberg and Representative Barbara Lee introduced the bill.”

S.3878 – A bill to amend title V of the Social Security Act to eliminate the abstinence-only education program [Open Congress]

H.R.6283 – To amend title V of the Social Security Act to eliminate the abstinence-only education program [Open Congress]

Allie Bohm writing at the ACLU Blog of Rights: “Fortunately, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) are saying no. Today, they introduced the Repealing Ineffective and Incomplete Abstinence-Only Program Funding Act of 2010, which would repeal the entire Title V statute . . .”

KULR (AP): “Opponents of a revised sex education plan for Helena schools are bashing the new version for teaching too much, too soon, while supporters are lauding it as necessary instruction.”

Sexuality, Integrity, and the University
November 12-13, 2010
Princeton University

Speakers include: Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Dr. Robert George (Q&A moderator), Dr. Donald Hilton, Dr. Micah Watson, and more.

Hosted by: The Love and Fidelity Network, Princeton, NJ

Co-sponsored by: Collegiate Cultural Foundation

OneNewsNow: “According to a report released by the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA), 30 governors applied for the Title V funding by the August 30 deadline. Executive director Valerie Huber tells OneNewsNow that both Republicans and Democrats accepted the funds and jointly contributed to the highest number of requests in years.”

CitizenLink: “The majority of state governors – three out of every five – applied for Title V money to support abstinence-centered programs in their states. The deadline to apply for Title V block grants to teach abstinence education was August 30, 2010. See the list of states that accepted – and did not accept – Title V funds.”

LifeSiteNews: “China’s Yunnan Province is implementing a new program to encourage chastity in students, using materials produced by the evangelical protestant organization Focus on the Family, according to local media reports.”

CitizenLink audio available here.

WTVR.com: “Gov. Bob McDonnell is drawing criticism from abortion-rights groups for limiting the state’s pursuit of federal sex education funding to an abstinence-only grant.”

LifeNews: “The funding cuts will come even though the Obama administration was forced to reveal the results of a new study on Monday showing the effectiveness of abstinence education programs and the support parents have for them.”

Catholic News Agency: “A young pro-life leader from the International Youth Alliance has denounced the World Youth Conference in Leon, Mexico as a ‘farce.’ He explained that the United Nations-promoted event is working to impose an agenda on delegates that is contrary to life and the family.”

LifeSiteNews: “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is withholding the full results of a government study that makes a strong case for promoting abstinence before marriage over sexual education promoting ‘safe sex.’ While the executive summary and final results are available, behavioral scientists are not being allowed a look at all the data behind the study’s major findings.”

“The taxpayer-supported survey from 2008 found that around 70 percent of parents and their teenagers believed that teens should wait until marriage to have sex.”

Catholic Herald: “A new UN Aids study has lent credibility to faith leaders who have long argued that behavioural change is key to combating the spread of the illness, a Catholic expert on the disease has said. … A study from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids released last week showed that HIV prevalence among young people has declined by more than 25 per cent in 15 of the 21 most-affected countries. In eight countries, according to the report, the declines in HIV prevalence have resulted, at least in part, from positive changes in sexual behaviour among young people, including youth waiting longer before they become sexually active and having fewer partners.” | Report

CitizenLink: “. . . The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) released its ’7th Annual State Profiles’ report to compare ‘comprehensive’ sex education laws and policies in public schools to that of abstinence-only efforts. The report bragged, ‘After nearly 30 years of strong support from the federal government for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, the Obama administration and Congress have ushered in a new era of sex education in this country, eliminating two-thirds of federal funding for ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and providing funding for evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention and comprehensive sex education initiatives totaling nearly $190 million.’”

The Post and Courier: “The Charleston County School Board ignored its health committee’s recommendation and plans to continue allowing schools to use a controversial abstinence-only curriculum.”

San Marcos Local News: “The board may approve or reject ‘abstinence plus’ curricula for the district’s middle school and high school students. The goal of the abstinence plus program is to reduce the number of students who have sexual intercourse and increase condom use among those who have sex.”

Liberty Counsel: “Late yesterday, Liberty Counsel filed a complaint in federal court in New Mexico to stop the unconstitutional censorship of a group of students at Roswell High School and Goddard High School called ‘Relentless in Roswell.’ … School officials never objected to the group’s activities until one day before class, students handed out small rubber models of preborn babies.”

Reno Gazette-Journal: “Nevada’s teen pregnancy rate is among the highest in the United States, and Lyon County’s is among the highest in Nevada. . . . the Lyon County School Trustees voted on June 8 meeting to form a new committee to re-evaluate the district’s sex education program. . . . The LCSD requires students to have active permission from their parents each year in order to take sex education courses. The District’s current sex education program is an abstinence-only program called ‘Worth the Wait.’”

South County Spotlight: “The Oregon Department of Education is asking the St. Helens School District to alter its proposed middle school sex education curriculum because the state agency says it violates state law by not adequately teaching about contraceptives.”

KLFY (AP): “The bill by Democratic Rep. Patricia Smith, of Baton Rouge, would require the courses from grades four through 12 beginning with the 2011-12 school year. It would include teaching about abstinence, contraceptives and sexually transmitted diseases.”

The Globe and Mail has a fact sheet for “sex education” in Poland, the U.S., Finland, Spain, Netherlands, and Sweden: “Sex ed is a culturally sensitive issue in classrooms around the world, with a complete abstinence from discussion in some, and others going all the way.”

CNN: “The hook-up culture on campuses may seem more pervasive than ever, especially as media outlets, books and documentaries rush to dissect the subject, but some college women and men are saying no. Some, like Boyle, experimented with hooking up and quit. Though she is Catholic, she says her reason for disengaging herself from the hook-up culture had more to do with the unhappiness she experienced afterward. Others influenced by religion have abstained from casual physical activity from the moment they set foot on campus.”

Robert Rector writing at National Review Online: “Consider what the New York Times had to say. According to its editorialists, the newly evaluated abstinence program succeeded because it was ‘freed from the moralistic overtones and ideological restrictions’ of prior abstinence education. … The bottom line: The sex-ed industry’s successful effort to kill federally funded abstinence education was about liberating teens from “ideological” and ‘moralistic’ messages. The dilemma for the Left is that parents overwhelmingly approve these messages and condemn the core values of the ‘comprehensive’ sex-ed programs currently pushed by Congress.”

The Charleston Gazette: “The Family Policy Council of West Virginia issued a news release Wednesday saying that policies that help adolescents access birth control would lead to more teen sex.”

Robert Rector, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, writing at NRO: “Obviously, abstinent teens are not going to get pregnant or contract an STD. But the research shows that, in general, they also will be happier and less depressed than their permissive peers. Abstinent teens also do dramatically better in school. They are half as likely to drop out as their sexually active peers. And teens who abstain until at least age 18 are twice as likely to attend and graduate from college as those who become sexually active while in high school. The extra schooling achieved by abstaining teens will add, on average, an additional $400,000 to their lifetime earnings.”

Politico: “Between 2003 and 2009, Republican Sen. Arlen Specter obtained nearly $10 million in earmarks for abstinence education. Then he became a Democrat. Since switching parties last spring, Specter hasn’t sought a dime in earmarks for abstinence education — a dramatic reversal that critics describe as a case study in the cynical politics of pork-barrel spending.”

Washington Post: “Sex education classes that focus on encouraging children to remain abstinent can persuade a significant proportion to delay sexual activity, researchers reported Monday in a landmark study that could have major implications for U.S. efforts to protect young people against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.”

Washington Post: “‘With funding being cut from the government, you’re going to see more responsibility placed on churches in the community to carry this banner,’ said Michael Polite, assistant pastor at Riverside Chapel Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nashville, which collaborated with several other local Adventist churches for the ball on a recent weekend . . . There’s a measure in the U.S. Senate to restore about $50 million to abstinence education, but its passage is uncertain and it would restore funding to less than half of what it had been under the Bush administration.”

Minnesota Independent: “An appropriations bill passed by Congress last weekend is being hailed by public health advocates for ending funding for abstinence-until-marriage sex education and eliminating the ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs. Minnesota is one of a three dozen states that allow drug users to have access to unused needles and is one of a few states which has rejected federal abstinence funds.”

Pennsylvania Family Institute: “The House Education Committee heard testimony on two bills, crafted with the help of Planned Parenthood, seeking to eliminate abstinence-only education in public schools. HB 1163 would require schools to teach so-called ‘comprehensive’ sex education and mandate state funding for this curriculum, and HB 1162 requiring parental notification (not a bad thing) by schools, but only when abstinence is being taught, when there is no such requirement for condom demonstrations!”

The Daily Journal: “The State Department of Health and Environmental Control has reported that teen pregnancies among all races have increased in South Carolina in recent years, and statistics show Oconee and Pickens Counties aren’t immune.”

Sex Education: What Kind? Who Pays? What’s the Result?
Capitol Research Center, Kate Knable, 12.2009

“The Bush administration promoted federally-funded abstinence education as an alternative to so-called ‘comprehensive sex education,’ the norm in public schools for nearly 50 years. But the abstinence policy is under relentless attack by progressive sex education advocacy groups. The Obama administration now proposes to de-fund abstinence education and divert the funding to ‘fact-based’ sex ed.”

OneNewsNow: “More than ten faculty members e-mailed Douglas Freeman High School Superintendent Patrick Russo because of the appearance of abstinence proponent Pam Stenzel. Victoria Cobb of the Family Foundation of Virginia tells OneNewsNow that criticism also came from local affiliates of NARAL Pro-Choice and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).”

The Spectrum: “During a recent pub­lic meeting at the Murray library, [Rep. Lynn Hemingway, D-Salt Lake City] shared his reasons for writing the bill. He states that chang­ing the law to allow teach­ers to educate students on methods of birth control is important because of the rise in sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnan­cies in the state.”

OneNewsNow: “The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against Mississippi to halt religious messages that are part of abstinence-only sex-education programs.”

ACLU Press Release: “The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Mississippi today asked a federal court in Mississippi to end government funding of religion in the state’s abstinence-only-until-marriage program.The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District on behalf of a teen and two community members who attended a state-sponsored abstinence summit in May of this year.”

Just Say No?: Redefining the Foundation of Abstinence Education in the United States
Farnaz Faiaz, J.D., 9 Hous. J. Health L. & Pol’y 97 (2009)

“Finally, Part V concludes legislators will soon feel pressure to reform current federal abstinence education policies, as neither abstinence-only, nor comprehensive sex education in their current forms have conclusively reduced rates of teenage pregnancy or STIs. A new approach is needed–one that builds on current notions of comprehensive and collaborative sex education and adds outcome-based financial incentives.”

OneNewsNow: “Abstinence education is celebrating a legal victory in Croatia . . . ‘So the potential of this case was to completely liberalize sexual education throughout Europe,’ [Roger Kiska] explains.”

EurActiv: A pro-abstinence sex education programme used in many Croatian schools is legally acceptable, the European Committee for Social Rights (ECSR) has found . . . Hailing the decision, Roger Kiska, a legal counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, an alliance of Christian attorneys, said ‘we are pleased that the European Committee for Social Rights has upheld the right for parents to choose an option that does not violate [their] core religious and moral beliefs.’ ‘Parents should be the ones responsible for making educational choices for their children – not leftist activist groups,’ added Kiska, who represented the organisation which drafted Croatia’s curriculum in the case.”

LifeSiteNews: “The body that polices compliance with the European Social Charter, a human rights document binding on all states within the Council of Europe, has deemed a pro-abstinence sex education program used in many Croatian schools to be acceptable. Alliance Defense Fund Legal Counsel Roger Kiska represented the organization that produced the curriculum, which provided his briefs to the government of Croatia to aid in its defense of the program, preferred by the vast majority of Croatian families over a radically leftist option. ‘Parents should be the ones responsible for making educational choices for their children – not leftist activist groups,’ said Kriska. ‘We are pleased that the European Committee for Social Rights has upheld the right for parents to choose an option that does not violate the core religious and moral beliefs of these families.’”

Denver Post: “The principal at Denver’s West High School started and then abandoned an effort to replace Planned Parenthood sex education with a religious-themed abstinence-only program. Jorge Loera, the first-year principal at West, told district officials Monday that although he doesn’t agree with teaching teens about contraception, he will continue the partnership the school has had with Planned Parenthood.”

North Carolina Family Policy Council: “1. Early sexual activity has a myriad of negative consequences for adolescents that go beyond sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and teen pregnancy, which condoms cannot protect against . . . 2. Postponing sexual activity—even for a few years—is associated with fewer lifetime sexual partners and healthier lifetime outcomes for men and women . . . 5. Since AUM education was implemented in the mid-1990s, teen sexual activity has declined sharply nationwide, along with significant declines in the teen pregnancy rate, the teen birth rate (until 2006), and the teen abortion rate. . . .”

NCRegister.com: “That’s the finding of a recent analysis of data collected by the Centers for Disease Control. The analysis, undertaken on behalf of San Antonio Coalition for Life, is posted on the Internet here.”