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
Hendrix321 (anonymous) says...
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.
December 3, 2008 at 5:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
linguo_the_grammar_robot (anonymous) says...
Hendrix-
It's because the vast majority of anti-choice folks are of limited intellectual ability.
December 4, 2008 at 1:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
glenjamin (anonymous) says...
There you have it, folks! linguo's right on the money! Anyone who disagrees with NARAL must be an imbecile! I love it when liberals try to argue....invariably, it ends up being a mixture of hyperbole and ad hominem.
Countless studies, you say? I'd like to see those. Even if it could be shown that abstinence-only sex ed was ineffective (if it was ever TRULY implemented), it's an immeasurable quantity. You're missing the entire point, anyway!
The whole idea behind abstinence-only sex ed is that there are CONSEQUENCES to your actions. Premarital sex is damaging to those who participate in it. It devalues women, first of all. Shouldn't that be enough? Sex should be saved for the one with whom you spend the rest of your life, not frittered away at every impulse (it's ok, I have a condom!).
Now, undoubtedly, at least 75% of this campus will disagree with me. Well, they're wrong. Sorry, but the truth hurts sometimes. Giving a toddler a gun and showing him that it has a "safety" is a stupid idea. Someone's bound to get hurt.
December 4, 2008 at 10:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )