Tuesday, December 2, 2008
In response to the Nov. 7 story, “Plan B use increases on campus," I think Plan B use could be greatly decreased if comprehensive sexual education programs were available to teens.
An April 2007 federally funded study of four abstinence-only programs by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., found that "youth who participated in the program were no more likely to abstain from sexual activity than those who did not. Youth who participated in the program and those who did not had similar numbers of sexual partners and initiated sex at about the same average age."
On Aug. 29, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Roderick Bremby rejected federal Title V, Section 510 funding for abstinence-only sex education programs, citing the aforementioned study as a reason for rejecting the funds. This rejection places Kansas with the majority of states who have decided to stop wasting taxpayer money on these ineffective and irresponsible programs that fail to provide young people with the medically accurate and potentially life-saving information that they deserve.
Taxpayers have spent more than $1.5 billion on these programs to date. Using the currently unallocated state funds to provide comprehensive sexual education programs would provide teens with this vital information.
Bremby's decision is a small step in the right direction. I look forward to seeing more public officials follow in his footsteps.
— — Vanessa Hays is a graduate student from Topeka.
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Comments
Letter: Abstinence-only classes haven’t slowed Plan B
I have never, for the life of me, understood why the vast majority of pro-life activists do not support comprehensive sex ed. Countless studies show that it would reduce abortion.
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