Preaching Chastity in the Classroom

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Preaching Chastity in the Classroom

Time (10/18/99) Vol. 154, No. 16, P. 79
Morse, Jodie

A publicly funded group in McLennan County, Texas, has launched an abstinence-only program of sex education for teenagers. Lecturer Eric Tooley does not talk about using condoms to prevent pregnancy and disease, but instead he tells students that condoms often fail, making abstinence the only way to truly protect against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The issue of abstinence-only sex education has sparked debate nationwide, as opponents fear that teenagers are not learning valuable information about sex. Presidential candidate George W. Bush, the Republican governor of Texas, is making abstinence a campaign issue, promising that as president he would set aside $135 million to make abstinence education a priority. A total of $50 million was set aside two years ago for abstinence programs, and schools and community groups in 48 states have used the funds, according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). Public health experts worry that abstinence campaigns are undoing years of successful safe sex education. SIECUS president Debra Haffner notes that withholding information about contraception and STDs from teenagers "puts them at risk." A number schools are dealing with these worries by offering more comprehensive sex education, with some featuring a dual-track system in which parents can choose between abstinence-only education and classes that discuss ways to prevent pregnancy and STDs.

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