Rick Perry Struggles To Answer Question About Sex Ed: 'Abstinence Works'

Last summer, Texas chose to pass on $4.4 million in federal funds aimed at sex education for adolescents in the state, The Texas Tribune reported.

But according to findings by the Guttmacher Institute, Texas is also the state with the highest teen birth rate and fourth-highest teen pregnancy rate in the country. New Mexico tops the list with the highest teen pregnancy rate and follows Texas as the state with the second-highest teen birth rate in the U.S. Mississippi isn't far behind the two states, with the country's fifth highest teen pregnancy rate and third highest teen birth rate.

With that in mind, critics of the state's refusal of federal funds for sex ed were questioning why, according to 2009 findings by watchdog group Texas Freedom Network, over 96 percent of Texas school districts taught abstinence, but didn't include teachings of responsible pregnancy, safe sex or disease prevention.

The group's study also found, among other things, that "shaming and fear-based instruction are standard means of teaching students about sexuality," and some classrooms that do teach sex education incorporate religious instruction and Bible study.

HuffPost blogger Shawn Lawrence Otto also notes that teens in Texas who took part in abstinence-only programs were having more sex than before.

Comparing Texas' sex education stance to its most similar peer, New Mexico has a different perspective. A survey by the New Mexico Teen Pregnancy Coalition showed that 70 percent of New Mexico parents believe that "young people are going to explore their sexuality as a natural part of growing up and the best approach is to provide information and services to help them act responsibly." Just a quarter of those surveyed advocated abstinence until marriage.

In 2009, President Barack Obama called for an end to abstinence-only education and instead replacing it with a $110 million teen pregnancy prevention program. From the New Mexico Independent:

Abstinence-only programs simply don't work, [Sylvia Ruiz of the NMTPC] said. "So if this means communities will be able to access funding to implement evidence-based services, then this is a very good day for New Mexico."

Mississippi's teen pregnancies and births cost state taxpayers at least $135 million every year, the Clarion Ledger reports. The state adopted a policy in March that requires schools to have either an abstinence-only or abstinence-plus program -- abstinence-plus teaches abstinence in addition to contraception and disease prevention.

At least 17 of the state's schools have adopted abstinence-only programs, according to the Ledger, but some have dropped the curriculum after parents argued it wasn't medically accurate. Students and school officials tell the Ledger that abstinence-only programs aren't working in the state.

So why is it that almost all Texas school district still err on the side of abstinence-only education when it doesn't seem to produce results? The Tribune's Evan Smith asked Texas Gov. Rick Perry that very question last October, and the video's been making its rounds lately.

"Abstinence works... it is the best form to teach our children," Perry tells Smith.

Here's what else he had to say. What do you think?

Comments

[Britney Ward]

12:27 PM on 09/28/2011

Dear Editor,

I agree that abstinence only programs should not be the only form of sexual education. Teens should be taught about sexuality and means of practicing safe sex. The fact of the matter is that majority of teens are going to have sex despite what people tell them to do. They are at an age where they explore their sexuality and body and parents need to accept that and help guide their children through this time. Abstinence only programs are in fact very costly and I believe taxpayer’s money would be better spent on sex education programs because America is high up on the list in teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. It has been proven that abstinence only programs do not seem to be working so as a nation we need to help out our youth by providing them with education about sexuality for the betterment of their health, mind and body. People should remember that knowledge is power and by being knowledgeable about a subject then it will only help people in the long run. Knowledge is the key to success. There is no such thing as having too much knowledge and Americans should want the best for their children including knowledge on topics such as sex.

[debg323]

03:59 AM on 09/19/2011

Why are we even putting this in the hands of politicians. It is the job of the guardins, parents, grandparent...etc to teach these things. And I a sick of this crap that it does not get done. Parents must do their duty, or don't have kids. Doctors should make sure that when children reach a certain age they with the parents cover these subjects... no the schools and not the politicians...

[Simpka]

12:28 PM on 08/30/2011

Wow. Every time I hear Rick Perry address such questions, I think to myself, "Here we have another hick in a suit," (planning to run the country, and getting voted into offices for which he is unqualified by other rich hicks in suits and by ignorant poor and middle class people who vote repeatedly against their own self-interest).
These suits (like Rick Perry) don't have to live in the world of women, children or in any other reality beyond big oil interests.
Maintaining the status quo -- (programs like abstinence education that does not work) -- permits these dudes to go on exploiting and reproducing poverty so they can continue exploiting cheap and desperate people. Welcome to the United States of Mexico.
BTW, if the governor of Texas and (the pope) don't believe in abortion, let them raise all the unplanned children (and families) popping up all over Texas, Mississippi, and New Mexico, where abstinence only education has failed. These guys probably have the resources to support all their unfunded mandates, like abstinence-only sex "education."

[grayplace]

10:55 PM on 08/29/2011

Yes, let's keep our kids ignorant and pregnant.

[babyjesussaysso]

02:53 PM on 08/30/2011

and the dumber they are the more likely to vote for the teapublicans...

[grayplace]

04:02 PM on 08/30/2011

Also part of their plan.

[builderman55]

11:40 PM on 08/27/2011

Here is the title of a recent study done on red states, blues states and sexual behavior: Graphic: Red States Have The Highest Divorce Rates, Teen Birth Rates, and Porn Subscription Rates. And this yahoo is running for President from one of the reddest states...

[builderman55]

11:36 PM on 08/27/2011

Knowing that the right wingnuts currently running for the Grand Ol' Plutocracy consistently ignore inconvenient facts when the conflict with IDEOLOGY, it is still worthwhile to note that the studies on abstinence education show that is is almost completely worthless and counterproductive at preventing teen pregnancy. And, probably the best proof ofnthat is that the states with the highest teen birthrates are overwhelmingly red states.

[fredgladys]

04:40 PM on 08/27/2011

Yes, abstinence does work but, so does going to a deserted desert island and spending twenty years playing solitaire but wouldn't spending money educating kids on birth control be a better option.

[been2there]

12:29 AM on 08/27/2011

If it gets votes from Perry's base, it works. The fact that it does not good for the children it is foisted on is irrelevant to this yahoo.

[Zeke Hernandez]

07:38 PM on 08/26/2011

Hey, it worked for the Palin family! Oh.. Wait...

[grayplace]

10:56 PM on 08/29/2011

Good one. Faved.

[C Lavant]

03:16 PM on 08/26/2011

Gov. Perry has said that he knows "from personal experience" that abstinence works. Personal experience with "total abstinence before marriage" "would not" make Perry "so passionate" about retaining "abstinence-only" education in Texas public schools despite the rising rate of pregnancy.

Personal experience with "out of wedlock conception" "could" make him "that passionate" about the subject. The governor was an Eagle Scout. A core value of Eagle Scouts is honesty. So, Rick Perry, tell all of Texas what you know personally about how out-of-wedlock conception can affect a male and his family. A state governor "getting real" could make a difference in how Texas youths think about their sexuality, and about how they think about their sexual activity.

[leroycrm]

12:23 AM on 08/26/2011

So,,,,Be Honest People,,,Is this really the man you want for president of These United States ?
Maybe ,had he taken the 4.4 billion from Washington, for education, maybe, just maybe, he might have learned something about education himself by accident,,,MAYBE.!!! (i'm just saying)

[grayplace]

10:57 PM on 08/29/2011

Those are BIG maybes.

[babyjesussaysso]

02:57 PM on 08/30/2011

It makes no difference what the people want, god has told him directly he is the man.

[Mutande]

08:30 PM on 08/25/2011

This is another scam of his. Governor Perry wants to be able to take out pregnancy insurance on unwed women and then when they get pregnant he can collect a lot of money.

[Benjamin Barclay Amsden]

08:24 PM on 08/25/2011

This is the danger of religious thinking; the truth doesn't matter at all, and he can get away with believing things directly contrary to the reality of the situation because his position is in harmony with so many other peoples cheerished, inviolable delusions. Just wanting something to be true does not make it so, and the fact that such childish thinking has crept into government would be pitiable if it wasn't so terrifying

[Mutande]

08:23 PM on 08/25/2011

Mr. Perry, give that message to Sarah Palin, whose family doesn't seem to get the message.

[LeaderofMen]

07:12 PM on 08/25/2011

It takes a all-hat and no-cattle Texan to make such a moronic statement about a program has evidence of it not working.