San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, July 27, 2003
Mary Jo McConahay**

They don't even have the programs in their own schools, but they're connected electronically to every corner of the country, and as teenagers, of course, they have opinions on everything. They don't talk as we travel to or from the lake on days of predawn practices -- sleepy beforehand and cramming afterward on the way to school -- but their chatter on afternoon practice days is constant.

"Maybe the abstinence part is a good idea," came a 15-year-old voice from the back seat one day. A smart kid, she rattled off the rate of increase of certain sexually transmitted diseases as other voices said "Yeah," or made other wise, assenting sounds. "I just don't want to be told it's about me and God."

Abstinence-only sex education is spreading through public schools much faster today than the older "comprehensive" kind because it is the only sex education being newly funded by federal dollars. Both types teach that abstinence is the only certain way to avoid pregnancy and an array of sexually transmitted diseases, from herpes to HIV-AIDS. But abstinence-until- (heterosexual)- marriage programs, attached to 1996 welfare reform legislation by conservative Republicans, purposefully do not mention safer sex or contraceptives, forbidding not only arguably pertinent information, but ignoring the significant number of teenage kids who are sexually active. Theory: more information leads to more sex. And in these program materials, homosexual kids may as well not exist.

Abstinence clubs for older kids at public, private and religious schools often are run by faith-based groups, and abstaining from sex is presented as good morality. President Bush has promised to fund the programs with at least $135 million a year; no increase for traditional sexuality education programs is in the works.

What is curious to me is that a couple of the girls who don't want their sex education to be about "me and God" are also vigorous in their religious faith.

"Well, it's supposed to be about education, right?" said one of them, not quite adding the implied, "Duh . . ."

For adults, abstinence-only programs are an issue at the nexus of sex, religion and politics. The programs unfold in a day when new legislation means taxpayer dollars may go freely and openly to faith-based groups, including those which discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion. They take place in a public school system whose chief, Education Secretary Rod Paige, recently had to scramble to insist he respects the separation of church and state, after telling the Baptist Press he would prefer, "all things being equal," to have a child in a school that teaches values "associated with the Christian communities."

The programs were championed early by then-governor Bush in Texas, the state that recently approved a law requiring doctors to warn women abortion could lead to breast cancer -- a connection that doesn't exist, according to federal scientists and the American Cancer Society. And high school abstinence clubs nationwide openly, proudly groom their best and brightest to campaign against legal abortion.

But there are all kinds of teenagers in the country, and for most the issue is personal and immediate.

An on-campus abstinence club supported by federal funds may be a godsend for girls pressured into having sex -- often with older men -- and for youngsters who are not virgins who want to change their lives, stay focused on school and have the approval of peers who feel the same way. Sex education that emphasizes abstinence until marriage may give confidence and encouragement to adolescent boys and girls who hold those same beliefs but feel pressured, too.

However, if the salvation comes in a package that includes disrespect for homosexuals, teaches that only one set of values is morally correct for all, or that information leads to perdition, you're going to have trouble with members of one rowing team I know.

"What gets me is they don't want to talk about certain things," I heard one girl venture. She is not usually the most talkative, has to struggle to keep up her times on the rowing machines but gives her all on the water. Her voice carried the kind of inevitable skepticism and rebellion that rule teenage years, that spell ultimate problems for any program that underestimates the savvy and integrity of kids. "I don't like it when people don't tell me everything -- I want to know everything, then let me figure things out."

** Mary Jo McConahay is an editor for Pacific News Service, which distributed this piece.

030727
SC030718

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2003. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2003. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .