Sex, Lies, and Federal Money: My Experience With Abstinence-Only Education

Every year when I was in high school in Lubbock, Texas, we were herded into the auditorium for a lecture from a local youth pastor about the birds and the bees.

At the culmination of every presentation, the pastor pulled a girl up onstage, produced a dirty, dingy toothbrush from his pocket and asked if she would brush her teeth with it. When she invariably said no, he pulled out another toothbrush, this one in its original box, and repeated the question. When she said yes to that one, he brandished the rejected toothbrush above his head and announced to the audience, "If you have sex before marriage, you are the dirty toothbrush."

A report recently released on the state of sex education in Texas details other bizarre things students are taught in the classroom about sex, contraception and their bodies, all subsidized by federal dollars. One skit, titled "Jumping Off the Bridge," concludes that giving a condom to a teen is like saying, "Well if you insist on killing yourself by jumping off the bridge, at least wear these elbow pads." Another presentation equates pre-marital sex with instances of marital murder-suicide. Still another compares women's sexuality to crock pots that take awhile to get warmed up, and men's to microwaves that are ready to cook at a moment's notice.

An entire generation of American teens has been confused, misinformed and endangered by abstinence-only-until-marriage programs like these. They are not just paid for by the federal government; states can't use these dollars for anything else.

In the past 15 years alone, more than a billion taxpayer dollars have been doled out to every state to teach curricula that often contain factual inaccuracies about condoms and contraceptives, generalizations about sexuality that are based on biases about gender and sexual orientation, and religious messaging that probably violates the U.S. Constitution.

The programs were a pet project of the Bush administration, and key to attracting votes and contributions from the religious right. Now, much of the money is still being doled out to faith-based organizations and crisis pregnancy centers, the latter often stating as their sole purpose the convincing of pregnant women, including ten and twelve year-olds and their families, that having an abortion will mean a lifetime of regret.

Unbelievable as it may sound, there is no federal law mandating or supervising the medical or scientific accuracy of information taught in schools or given out in tax-exempt pregnancy centers, a loophole used to tell young people that condoms don't work, homosexuality is never part of normal human behavior and sexuality is the one academic subject in which students will be rewarded for lack of knowledge.

In fact, abstinence-only sex education is so damaging that 25 governors, Republicans and Democrats, have refused abstinence-only funds. Rising rates of sexually transmitted infections, unwanted teen births and an increased need for abortion have dramatized the inefficacy and danger of such programs. And last year, the Journal of Adolescent Health published its opinion that abstinence-only funding may constitute a human rights violation.

A Lack of Leadership from Stuart Productions on Vimeo.

The huge majority of Americans agree. 88% think teens should receive information about condoms and contraception as well as abstinence in the classroom. Yet, no moves have been made in Washington to make good on these convictions.

If President Obama and Democratic leaders were to fulfill their own promises it could only be a financial win. The public costs associated with teen pregnancy alone total more than nine billion dollars a year, with additional costs of treating sexually transmitted infections. Economic impact statements have shown that every dollar spent on comprehensive sex education would be one of the few good investments these days. Failing to eliminate all funding for abstinence-only programs would be a setback for human rights and tempt a suit for taxpayer fraud.

President Obama and Speaker Pelosi, if you have to throw a bone to the right wing, let it not be the bones of the youth who elected you. The young people who so overwhelmingly voted for change -- partly on the promise of comprehensive sex education -- are certainly not asking for a bailout. We just want the facts that can save our lives.

Video by Charles Stuart. Originally published on rhrealitycheck.org.

Comments

[Isis N]

I still can't believe people think that abstinance-only sex education works. Even in California, I still see pregnant teens quite a bit...

[ssfahrer]

I still can't believe people think that ANY sex education works... Or that ANY 'public' education works. I see far too many uneducated people who manage to graduate from high school, enter our local community college, and have to take remedial math, English, science, etc. as if they were in high school over again. Perhaps it is not "abstinence-only" that is the problem-- it is the whole idea of the "public school system" as it is presently constitute­d....

[noamjunior]

education educates- it doesn't prevent idiocy, as you exemplify with your post

[WilliamProc]

Every conservative knows that babies are put under cabbage leaves by storks and that teenage sex leads to liberalism.

Well; that;s what they say...

[TryToBeFlexible]

The religious right would rather see millions dead than question one sentence of their fantasy book. They have proven that over and over for 2 thousand years.

[BossBabe]

Okay. I don't like Ellie Smeal referring to the THREE branches of government being democratic (implying that the Supreme Court is controlled by a particular political party). I don't like Nancy Pelosi saying that we need to elect pro-choice members of congress to get rid of abstinence only education. The judicial branch of government is and should be non-partisan. I understand what Ms. Smeal was getting at, but the judicial branch is not partisan nor should it be. And, as for Pelosi's comments, I understand as well where she was coming from. But there are anti-choice people who agree that abstinence only education is not effective, and who support more comprehensive education. Let's not alienate them by suggesting that, if they support a reasonable sex education agenda, that they will violate their own personal morals and values.

[LauraD]

"that they will violate their own personal morals and values."

Except anti-choice people are trying to use their own personal morals and values to force you to make the kinds of decisions about your life that they want you to make.

Remember that when you stand up in their defense. I don't criticize people for not agreeing with abortion, but no one has the right to tell you what to do with your body, no matter who they seem to think they are.

[GJKBEAR]

Shelby, you will note that it is now 2009 and the TX legislature still has not moved forward on this issue. The House just voted today to kill a bill that would put contraception info into the schools - because Perry would just veto it. Sigh, the more things change; the more they stay the same....

[ibwilliamsi]

Can someone please tell me who I should write letters to (I do not believe in mass e-mails) to encourage the end of the program and a reinstatement of science based sex education in our schools?

[LauraD]

Good luck. This is Texas she's talking about, the state that just had to have a hearing to determine if creationism counts as science.

[abrown33]

Amen! I was lucky enough to attend high school in Massachusetts, where we were taught comprehensive sex ed. We learned about abstinence because, after all, it is a valid method for preventing STDs and unwanted pregnancies, but we also learned about the many other options open to teens who have sex and want to be responsible about it. Unfortunately my family moved right after I graduated, and my younger sister was taught AO in Arkansas. Some of the stuff they tell these kids is outrageous. My sister's "health" teacher wasn't even allowed to MENTION condoms! Luckily my mom used to volunteer at Planned Parenthood!

[Vermontah]

Wow. First, it makes me want to punch the Hannitys and Gingriches that sneer at "spending.­" My tax dollars paid for this? My tax dollars paid for the Iraq war? Where do I teabag?

Second, there is a bizarre perversion with the right-wing obsession with sex that reminds one of the Taliban and the black-garbed thought police of Tehran and Saudi Arabia.

What is it going to take to make these perverted thieves of the federal treasury rejoin humanity? Right now they are as despicable as any social group in human history. And that includes the Nazis and aborigine cannibals.

[hortonhearsawho2]

Dear god, lubbock in the rear view mirror....

[kipawa]

thank you for continuing to inform others! after working for two years at a pregnancy clinic in lubbock texas, i applaud your efforts. i tried my best to teach young girls, boyfriends, and their parents about basic sex education (not in a formal way) and for the most part, they were appreciative -- they were ignorant of any facts.
the stories i could tell are both heartbreaking and inspiring; the reality was, as a 'foreigner' coming in to west texas, astounding­/shocking. again, i thank you and would be happy to help in any way to bring proper sex education to our young, and others who never had it and are 'older' - they need to know too.

[RachelMc]

well i can only speak for my schools. i must have gotten lucky to be given real info or something. i cant say that about all houston schools because there's so many and so many school districts too.

[RachelMc]

must be in those little places in texas where things like this take place. in houston sex education was taught in middle school, separately for girls and boys that were in houston independent school district. it was also taught in elementary school personally by the school nurse to us 6th graders and we had to get a waivers from our parents. and everything was taught including that it was ok to wait.

[LauraD]

"houston independent school district"

Operative statement.

I didn't go to a private or independent school or school district. Straight up public school, and we hade comprehensive sex education. As a result, only one person in my graduating class of nearly 200 (small town, small school) had a child, and she had severe endometriosis and was told by her doctors that she couldn't have babies, so when she got pregnant, it wasn't a tragic scandal, it was the happiest her and her parents could have possibly been (plus she was 18 at the time, so not as young as alot of teen moms).

I'm just saying that if in a podunk town like the one I grew up can prevent teen pregnancy by simply providing proper education and a no-questions-asked condom dispensary at the nurse's station, there isn't much excuse to not implement such policies everywhere.

[SpawnOfJerry]

Schools in the Houston Independent School District are public schools. You see, in Texas we value our personal liberties so much, the public school districts are "independent" from one another. That's snark. I have no idea why there are over 1,000 "independent" school districts in Texas.

[RachelMc]

all districts are made of public schools. depending on where u live u end up in a particular district. in that district according to where u live in that district u r zoned to particular school. now there are plenty of private and charter schools that u can go to regardless of where u live. also there are special programs, called magnet and vanguard programs in HISD public schools that any1 can go to. when i attended them u had to take a test and apply to get into those programs but any1 could apply. no money involved. but i have heard that some are messed up now.

[llisa]

Excellent post from a young person who knows what abstinence only sex ed is actually like. What we have allowed to be done to our children is criminal.

[TJCole]

Why pay attention to those Theo Confederat­es...?

[MenaC]

What a clear, concise article! As someone also from Texas, I have to say that the number of pregnant teens I see are staggering!

[GJKBEAR]

I read today in the Austin American Statesman that we are 3rd in the Nation as far as teen birth rates. That is staggering to me.