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Dramatic new evidence that abstinence-only sex education can succeed in public schools ought to be good news for Texas, right? After all, state law requires an emphasis on abstinence, and most school districts stop there. But education experts caution that the program tested is very different from the curriculum offered in many Texas schools. And while elements can be found in some North Texas classrooms, not even the researchers can say for certain which parts of their specially designed program made it work. Advocates of abstinence-only classes praised the study, published last week in the latest issue of the Archives...

Surprise (to some)! Abstinence education actually works. According to a new University of Pennsylvania study published in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, abstinence only education helps to prevent teen pregnancy even if it does not include a religious message. The study showed that 33 percent of sixth and seventh graders who took an abstinence-only course had sex within two years of the course compared to 52 percent who were taught only "safer sex" and 42 percent who were taught both abstinence and safer sex.

This week, the media gave us what appeared to be startling news: Research, appearing in a journal published by the American Medical Association, showed (shock!) that abstinence programs dramatically reduced teen sexual activity. No one knowledgeable about abstinence education, however, would find this startling. In fact, eleven previous sound studies showed strong positive effects from abstinence programs. The mainstream media simply ignored them. Unfortunately, the most recent story came too late — President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have already terminated the federal government’s abstinence programs. What other story has the mainstream media ignored? The big one concerns the...

Abstinence-only sex education has been a favorite target of the cultural elite, who argued it was naive at best and dangerous at worst. Now, a new study published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine suggests that encouraging young teens to just say no to sex may be the most effective method at delaying early sexual activity. The study, the first of its kind to employ rigorous research methods in a controlled setting, showed that programs that encouraged 12- to 14-year-old students to refrain from sexual activity "until they are ready" were more effective than other approaches. The study...

I’ve never been a fan of abstinence education, not that I care much for the alternatives. The whole idea that an educational system that has landed us in 12th place in international science tests could bring down America’s world-class teen pregnancy rate has always struck me as a dubious proposition, no matter what curriculum was being used. This past week’s mini-drama surrounding the release of two conflicting studies related to sex education highlights another reason for skepticism on the subject: the limits of social science, especially when filtered through the largely liberal media. Last Tuesday, the Guttmacher Institute issued a...

Somebody up there has a wicked sense of humor. How else do you explain the release this week of a new study by John B. Jemmott III proving that an abstinence-only education program works? First President Obama slashes virtually all federal funding for abstinence-only education programs in 2010. ("It's about time that evidence-based management -- and sanity -- return to family planning programs," applauded Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.) Then just last week, the Guttmacher Institute -- which is affiliated with Planned Parenthood, but usually does good science anyway -- reported that teen pregnancy rates are once again rising. Oddly, with...

(Feb. 2) -- What if abstinence-only programs actually work? That's the question facing educators this week after a groundbreaking study found that students who take classes emphasizing abstinence are less likely to have sex than those who take classes teaching safe sex. Although the effectiveness and virtues of sex-ed versus abstinence-only curricula have long been the subject of fierce debate in American schools, the federal study, published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, is the first of its kind to suggest that programs encouraging students to abstain from having sex altogether are successful. Just under half of the...

Sex education classes that focus on encouraging children to remain abstinent can convince a significant proportion to delay sexual activity, researchers reported Monday in a landmark study that could have major implications for the nation's embattled efforts to protect young people against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. In the first carefully designed study to evaluate the controversial approach to sex ed, researchers found that only about a third of 6th and 7th graders who went through sessions focused on abstinence started having sex in the next two years. In contrast, nearly half of students who got other classes, including...

Oprah Winfrey, the daytime television guru who encourages viewers daily by telling them they have the power to achieve any goal they might set for themselves, questioned Bristol Palin’s goal of abstaining from sex until marriage in a recent interview: “In a Jan. 22 interview, Oprah criticized Bristol Palin, the teen daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, for recently telling In Touch Weekly that she was pledging abstinence until marriage. ‘I kind of bristled,’ Oprah began, ‘when I saw this—where you said, ‘I’m not going to have sex until I’m married. I can guarantee it’ ... I’m just...

Did you know that penance is not only for Lent and Advent? And that we Catholics are not only supposed to be doing penance on the Fridays of Lent? Of course, penance is good to do at many times for many reasons.  But in fact, canon law requires us to do some form of penance every Friday of the year. Canon 1250—All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the universal Church. Canon 1251—Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to...

In the spring of 1998, I publicly revealed that the orgasm is not the crowning achievement of my life. Having been bombarded for months with the “spin” regarding Bill Clinton’s most infamous national sex scandal, I felt compelled to make my own statement. I was sickened by the excuses. “It was just a lie about sex.” “Everybody cheats.” “Boys will be boys.” “That depends on what the definition of the word ‘is’ is.” And my favorite; “If I were Clinton, I’d have done it, too.” To which I quickly responded, “And I wouldn’t want you to be President, either.” I...

Monday, 21 Dec 2009 12:11 PM Article Font Size By: James Hirsen Despite widespread public opposition to the current healthcare reform package, which is slated to be passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve, advocates have a new tool in their arsenal to court younger voters. Sex, what else? Rock the Vote, the celebrity weighted group that tries to reel in votes for Dems, recently released a video that encourages young folks to use sexual favors, or the withholding thereof, as a means of persuasion. Libs of the past made a career out of ridiculing abstinence programs. But some Rock...

Long Way From Abstinence Malcolm A. Kline, December 15, 2009 The results of a new study, and the record of who sponsored it, help show that the federal government, contrary to elite belief, has not been exclusively promoting abstinence for the past decade. On December 8, 2009, the University of Minnesota revealed that: * “University of Minnesota Project Eating Among Teens (EAT) researchers have found that young adults engaging in casual sexual encounters do not appear to be at increased risk for harmful psychological outcomes as compared to sexually active young adults in more committed relationships. Although there has been...

Senate Omnibus Funds Planned Parenthood, UNFPA, Ditches Abstinence Washington, DC -- The omnibus spending bill the Senate will consider this weekend could pave the way for funding abortions in the nation's capital for the first time in 13 years. There are other winners and losers in the legislation -- with Planned Parenthood and the UNFPA dining at the Congressional trough. http://www.lifenews.com/nat5768.html

Sex Ed Overwhelms Abstinence Malcolm A. Kline, December 7, 2009 Opponents of abstinence education who say it doesn’t work speak with some authority: They’ve been doing their level best to defeat it. “According to a report from HHS, federal abstinence education programs received $1 for every $4 spent on contraceptive-focused sex ed,” Kate Knable writes in the December issue of Organization Trends, a newsletter published by the Capital Research Center. HHS is the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, the federal agency that oversees much, but not all, of the national government assistance to public school programs that...

Featured Term (selected at random):PAENITEMINI Apostolic constitution of Pope Paul VI, issued in 1966, by which the canonical norms of fast and abstinence were changed. While changing the norms, the Pope made it clear that divine law requires all the faithful to do penance. Accordingly the purpose of the new regulations was not to weaken the practice of penance but to make it more effective. The Church, therefore, "while preserving--where it can be more readily observed--the custom (observed for many centuries with canonical norms) of practicing penance also through abstinence from meat and fasting, intends to ratify with her prescriptions...

Chastity talk resonates with Baltimore teens Sacred Heart, Glyndon, parishioners Allison Boyd and Katie Lutz share a moment inside the Sprint Center. (CR Staff/Matt Palmer) Matt Palmer mpalmer@CatholicReview.org KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Adults talking sexuality with a bunch of teens is typically a recipe for awkwardness. So, when a husband and wife team, Jason and Crystalina Evert, stood in front of 21,000 teenagers Nov. 20 and preached the values of chastity, the last thing anyone expected was for it to go over like gangbusters. But, that's exactly what happened. At the end of the Everts' nearly 40-minute presentation at the...

Whether sex education for teenagers should focus on abstinence from sexual activity or fully address the use of contraceptives has emerged as a topic in the debate in Congress over a health-care overhaul. Advocates of differing approaches to sex education are watching whether Congress will come down on the side of paying for what are widely called “abstinence-only programs,” which President Barack Obama proposed eliminating in his fiscal 2010 budget, or of financing only what are known as “comprehensive” programs. [snip] The health-care bill the U.S. House of Representatives passed this month doesn’t authorize any funding for abstinence-only programs. Rather,...

Abstaining from Accuracy Malcolm A. Kline, November 19, 2009 In a classic case of missing the point, public health officials and their stenographers in the media are blaming the spread of sexually transmitted diseases on sex education that promotes abstinence. “American squeamishness about talking about sex has helped keep common sexually transmitted infections far too common, especially among vulnerable teens, U.S. researchers reported Monday,” Maggie Fox wrote in an article that Reuters distributed on November 16, 2009. “Latest statistics on chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis show the three highly treatable infections continue to spread in the United States.” Outside of activities...

Sens. Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley at a Senate Finance Committee meeting. Washington D.C., Oct 1, 2009 / 02:24 am (CNA).- The Senate Finance Committee voted to restore $50 million a year in federal funding for abstinence-only education. One abstinence ed supporter said the action was a victory for “the hard work of grassroots” efforts.Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) sponsored the measure, which passed over the objections of committee chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.). All ten Republicans and two Democrats, Sens. Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, voted for the measure.Hatch said abstinence education had been...