Abstinence Only Education - In It For The Money?

By Cernig

Following hard on the British report I cited yesterday comes another report that says abstinence-only sex-ed doesn't work. This one's from the US Congress.

Students who took part in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex as those who did not, according to a study ordered by Congress.

Also, those who attended one of the four abstinence classes that were reviewed reported having similar numbers of sexual partners as those who did not attend the classes. And they first had sex at about the same age as other students - 14.9 years, according to Mathematica Policy Research Inc.

The federal government now spends about $176 million annually on abstinence-until-marriage education. Critics have repeatedly said they don't believe the programs are working, and the study will give them reinforcement.

In response, the Busheviks actually had the nerve to compare theit faith-based punjundrums with actual scientific medecine:

``This report confirms that these interventions are not like vaccines. You can't expect one dose in middle school, or a small dose, to be protective all throughout the youth's high school career,'' said Harry Wilson, the commissioner of the Family and Youth Services Bureau at the Administration for Children and Families.

What various studies have shown, however, is that no number of doses of this faith-based claptrap have any effect. Here in Texas high schools they even have a name for card-carrying abstainers - technical virgins, because of their sidestep of their literal promises with an adroitness that would make the Clenis blush.

Yet $176 million a year is not chickenfeed. Steve Benen rightly notes that the religious right hasn't had much in the way of actual policy enactment to show for it's backing of the Bush administration. But that may be the wrong way to look at it. If these people were sincere about their beliefs then we wouldn't keep hearing about embezzlements, divorces, drug abuse, prostitutes and the rest. However, if just like their TV appeals for donations their faith-based programs are all about making money, then they've been very successful indeed.

I wonder if Bush sees even a little irony in his pronouncement today that:

``In our day there is a temptation to manipulate life in ways that do not respect the humanity of the person,''...``When that happens, the most vulnerable among us can be valued for their utility to others instead of their own inherent worth.''

Update Ann Friedman over at Tapped writes that "The Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America are suing the FDA over the agency's approval of Plan B emergency contraception for over-the-counter sale. Their complaint? The FDA's decision was politically motivated." Ann agrees with them, and goes on to detail how the political motovation came from faith-based Bush administration insiders who tried to scuttle the drug and succeeded in limiting its availability. Can't have competition cutting in on the rich pickings from Bush's family planning efforts (i.e. planning to have families, lots of them ,all with teen moms).