More Evidence That Abstinence-Only Programs Don't Work

Programs based on fundamentalist Christianity and championed by President Bush took another hit with the release of an Oxford University review of 13 US trials published in the British Medical Journal. The conclusion? "Sex abstinence programmes do not stop risky sexual behaviour or help in the prevention of unwanted pregnancy."

As a taxpayer, I am appalled to learn that my tax dollars are supporting a budget where "a third of the President's HIV budget is given to abstinence programmes." People continue to die of AIDS while we squander resources on demonstrably ineffective treatments.

Researchers found none of the abstinence-only programmes had an impact on the age at which individuals lost their virginity, whether they had unprotected sex, the number of sexual partners, the rates of sexually transmitted diseases or the number of pregnancies.

I have no problem at all with abstinence being part of comprehensive sex education, but to continue funding abstinence-only programs in light of mounting evidence that they do not work is absurd.

H/T to Deep Thoughts

Tags: education, abstinence, abstinence-only, sex education, Bush, science, health, medicine