Chicago Tribune - August 11, 2001
Karen Brandon, Tribune national correspondent

Some researchers say that many teens associate abstinence only with refraining from intercourse. While the alternative behaviors eliminate the risk of pregnancy, they still expose youths to sexually transmitted diseases.

Advocates of abstinence education say their programs are responsible for a long-term drop in the nation's teenage pregnancy rate, but critics say that attitude is too narrowly focused and leaves many teenagers with misinformation.

Misconceptions abound

For example, a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a national health philanthropy, found that one-quarter of sexually active 15- to 17-year-olds thought oral sex posed no risk of HIV infection and another 15 percent did not know that a person could become infected that way.

The attitude of many teenagers was typified by a 16-year-old San Fernando Valley girl who told a recent panel discussion on teenage sex: "I consider myself a virgin, and I've had oral sex. My definition of abstinence is no penetration."

Last month, in his "Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior," U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher advocated sex education that emphasized abstinence, was thorough and started early in life.

"School sexuality education is a vital component of community responsibility," Satcher said in the report, noting that parents vary widely in their ability and willingness to discuss sex with their children.

On the heels of the report, the administration announced $17 million in new grants for abstinence-only education programs, part of a plan to increase federal funding for such programs to the level devoted to more comprehensive sex education, which includes providing information on contraception.

"The concern is creating parity for abstinence-only education," said Kevin Keane, assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "I know a lot of critics say [abstinence-only education] hasn't been proven to work. Well, it hasn't been proven not to work either."

The surgeon general's report said so few abstinence-only programs had been scientifically evaluated that no one could say whether they work.

Several studies of more comprehensive sex education programs cited in Satcher's report found that giving teens information about contraception did not increase sexual activity.

Chasm widens

The dispute and the increase in funding have only widened the gulf between advocates of teaching only abstinence in sex education classes and those who prefer a more diverse approach.

Abstinence-only advocates say comprehensive sex education places too much emphasis on alternatives to intercourse.

"They have defined these behaviors as being abstinence," said Libby Gray, a spokeswoman for Project Reality, a Golf, Ill.-based non-profit organization that has been advocating abstinence-only sex education in public schools since 1985.

"We really stress that any type of sexual contact can and does lead to disease," she said. "What we're saying is anything that leads up to intercourse is not abstinence."

But supporters of comprehensive sex education contend that the abstinence-only movement is deliberately vague.

"I think what's unfortunate about the abstinence-only approach is that it does not generally define abstinence for young people," said Tamara Kreinin, president and chief executive officer of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States.

Keeping pledge

Referring to the pledge millions of teenagers have taken to remain virgins until marriage, she said, "I think some of these teenagers are trying to adhere to the abstinence message by saying, `If I don't have vaginal intercourse, I've adhered to this and I'm OK.'"

Teenagers offered surprising assessments of the intimacy of various sex acts, as suggested by the comments from adolescents on the recent Los Angeles panel, convened by the Media Project, a partnership of the Kaiser Family Foundation and Advocates for Youth, which provides sexual health information and training to organizations that deal with young people.

For instance, some teens said they consider "heavy kissing" more intimate than oral sex.

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