Discontinued Abstinence Program Was an Arizona Success Story

Liberal Gov. Janet Napolitano is not one to be confused with facts. Her liberal mind is made up, and that's to the detriment of thousands of Arizonans. The governor earlier this year refused to continue funding for the Arizona Abstinence Only Education Program, but now the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) has issued a final report documenting the success of the program in its five-year history, from 1998 to 2003.

In the "Highlights" section of the final report, ADHS reported, "Satisfaction with the program was high among all participant groups":

"Among teens, those most satisfied with the program were sexually experienced youths who planned to stop having sex after having completed the program."

More significantly than those positive attitudes were the literal success statistics. A follow-up study found that virgins had a 95 percent abstinence success rate, and non-virgins had a 52 percent abstinence success rate.

So why don't liberals like Napolitano get on board with this Arizona success story? For one thing, it is a conservative idea, and they don't want to recognize conservative successes or hand victories to conservatives. More importantly, however, is the fact that Planned Parenthood stands to lose money when there are fewer teenage pregnancies to abort. And Planned Parenthood is very good at funding the campaigns of liberals -- Democrats and Republicans alike.

We have only begun reviewing the success of the abstinence program. There is more good news flowing from the final report.

For the year 2001, live birth rates among participants were lower than comparable state rates, and one of the reasons is attributable to the abstinence program.

Prepared by LeCroy & Milligan Associates, Inc., the report stated: "A significant shift toward less risky sexual behaviors occurred among sexually experienced teens from school, after-school, and community programs; including less alcohol and drug abuse accompanying sex, proportionately fewer reported STDs, greater condom and birth control use, and fewer reported pregnancies." Regarding the condom and birth-control use, remember that adults were included in the program.

The Abstinence Only Education Program positively influenced the risk and protective factors related to the long-term outcomes of pregnancy and sex before marriage. Significant short-term gains were reported among children, pre-teens, teens and high-risk adults for the program administered in school, after school, or in detention, community or residential settings.

Additional short-term outcomes maintained over time included improvement in refusal skills, an increase in teens' personal value exploration, and increased endorsement of the health benefits of abstinence.

It should also be noted the abstinence program was a major school initiative implemented broadly throughout Arizona to diverse groups of participants. More than 123,000 people were exposed to the program, mostly teens and pre-teens. Seventeen contractors delivered the program in 12 of the state's 15 counties. In its peak years, the program reached 175 middle and high schools, 42 detention and residential facilities and 32 community and after-school locations. In some counties, parents conducted workshops to help provide consistency in the values and messages presented by the abstinence program.

The basic message delivered to the many thousands of participants was "sexual abstinence until marriage." Curricula focused on the consequences of pre-marital sex and on developing skills to refuse sexual overtures. Another key component of the program was a television, radio and print media campaign to encourage abstinence.

Prevention programs should be designed based on what is known about the factors that influence adolescent sexual behavior as revealed in theory and research;

Increased attention needs to be given to parents in assisting them with the sexual education of their children, including helping parents articulate pro-abstinence values and expectations for their children in a clear and direct manner; and

Programs should specifically address dating relationships and dating expectations with youth and parents.

A majority of students reported that the program moralized too much about right and wrong. This is not a reflection of the abstinence program as much as it is residue of the moral relativist indoctrination students wallow through in public schools. That's part of the gauntlet students face in the public schools, where the humanist religion is preached. Students are indoctrinated to believe that no value system is superior to any other. Yet social science research tells us that pre-marital sex often comes with the high price tags of STDs, AIDS, pregnancy, depression and often results in abortion and the many risks involved with it, such as breast cancer, uterus perforations, multiple complications, depression and other horrors, including death. If explaining such consequences to at-risk people is moralizing, so be it. Bring it on. It's better for young people to receive conservative morality than liberal morality.

There are two more words that come to mind with the imparting of facts on the potential consequences of pre-marital sex: one is "wisdom" and the other is "love."

When the governor discontinues such a program, what wisdom is she professing and for whom is she expressing love and concern? Her allegiances are to the multi-billion dollar abortion industry and the culture of death -- not to the young, at-risk people of Arizona. As I write this on Sunday, December 7th, I am mindful that the only thing we need to fear is not fear itself, but the governor and inferior liberal morality on life and death issues.

Parents are primarily responsible. But not all parents can homeschool their children or send them to private schools. Even if they can, not all children can resist the pressures of fellow teens. Everyone is better off when sexual morality is taught in the schools, including even children who receive proper teaching at home.

The people of Arizona are paying a high price for having elected a priestess of the Culture of Death their governor.

In related news, a Phoenix television station has refused to sell air time to a pro-life media company. We're hoping they change their minds.

I am at this very moment burning audio CDs of the commercials, in case we have to go public on talk radio about this anti-conservative bigotry. We hope it doesn't come to that and the station manager does the right thing.

A liberal can't change his spots. In the '60s, they chanted slogans like, "If it feels good, do it," "Tune in, turn on, drop out," and "Anything goes." Liberals want us believe that those slogans are just a rumor made up by talk radio hosts. But the truth is that those '60s radicals are today's Democrats. Janet Napolitano and her ilk WANT children to have sex. They are a bunch of perverts who get off on showing how to put on condoms - as though they couldn't figure it out on their own! When I was in junior high, some perverted sex ed instructor told us that it was "normal" for boys to masturbate each other!

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