UFI Commentary
Outrage of the Week: Congressman Waxman's Report on Abstinence Education
By Dennis Durband
December 7, 2004
Congressman
Henry Waxman (D-CA) is rightfully coming under fire for commissioning a report
critical of abstinence education and for recommending that youth play Russian
roulette by engaging in high-risk sexual behaviors. Waxman believes that the
AIDS epidemic is largely due to a lack of funding, rather than behaviora consequences.
The Waxman report is not peer reviewed and is not scientific. In fact, it was prepared for by the congressman's staff with a specific political agenda in mind. That agenda promotes the failed "safe-sex" approach that encourages minors to engage in sexual activities, and it is critical of government funding for abstinence education.
First on the list of the Waxman complaints is a claim that abstinence education distorts the truth about the ability of condoms to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, the Waxman report disputes the claim that life begins at conception and claims that abstinence education exaggerates the risks associated with abortion.
The primary role of K-12 education is to teach children reading, writing, arithmetic and thinking skills, among other basic and perfunctory skills necessary for entrance into college or the work force. The responsibilities of teaching sex education, morality and decision making are best served by parents and guardians.
The Center for Disease Control published a new study this year which indicates that 53 percent of the overall decline in teenage pregnancy rates between 1991 and 2001 is due to the practice of abstinence, compared to 47 percent attributed to improved contraceptive use. Yet contraceptive sex-ed programs receive a disproportionate amount of funding -- about three-times as much as funding for abstinence education. The key to Uganda's 70-percent reduction in AIDS infections is abstinence, not condoms. U.S. President George W. Bush has wisely embraced abstinence education while Congressman Waxman and others support alternatives with a history of failure.
Perhaps the greatest lesson of abstinence education is the message that good things are worth waiting for. Congressman Mike Bilirakis (R-FL) once said, "Abstinence until marriage builds character and self-control." The wedded unions of those who had practiced pre-marital abstinence experience health and happiness in the greatest levels of abundance. Conversely, safe-sex education encourages students to engage in high-risk behavior. Students who abstain are not making the news headlines about the epidemic incidence of Chlamydia or AIDS, or teen pregnancy. Abstaining youth have not encountered the complications that can accompany abortion, have not experienced sterility, nor have any of them died from the effects of RU-486. Proponents of safe-sex want to practice high-risk behaviors while experiencing the health and peace of mind that come with the practice of abstinence.
Just what is the truth about condom effectiveness? A government panel studying condom effectiveness concluded that condom users are fully protected against just one of eight diseases examined.
Condoms reduce the possibility of HIV/AIDS by 85 percent, according to the National Institutes for Health, but the incidence of improper use of condoms is exceedingly high among youth. A 15-percent risk of contracting a fatal disease is an awful high risk to take.
There is some risk of reduction for gonorrhea, with condom use. However, condoms do not protect users against the Human Papillomavirus, also known as HPV, because they do not cover the entire genital area. Nor do condoms provide any clinical proof of effectiveness against Trichomoniasis, Chancroid, Syphilis or Genital Herpes, STDs which infect millions in the United States alone.
United Families International fully supports abstinence and abstinence education. Abstinence is a sure-fire winner for those who adhere to it. Congressman Waxman would serve the public well by highlighting the significant risks of so-called "safe sex" -- rather than attacking the best solution to the epidemic of sexual diseases.
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