Palm Beach Post Editorial
Saturday, December 15, 2007

Twenty-thousand more babies were born to teenagers in 2006 than in 2005. The increase in the teen birth rate was the first in 15 years - proof, obviously, that abstinence-only education is working.

Stunningly illogical, right?

Yet despite overwhelming evidence that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs do not work, the United States spends $176 million on such programs. Last month, a study commissioned by the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy concluded: "At present, there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence, or reduces the number of sexual partners."

The study did find success, however - with comprehensive sex education programs.

With the nation's sixth-highest rate of teen pregnancy and second- highest rate of annual HIV infection, Florida, in particular, should make it a priority to replace ineffective abstinence-only programs with comprehensive education about reproductive health, sexually transmitted diseases and contraception.

At the urging of Superintendent Michael Lannon and with the support of community leaders, the St. Lucie County School Board on Tuesday approved a curriculum that will teach students about condoms. The board approved the Get Real About AIDS curriculum for fourth through 12th grades in response to the county's near-epidemic rates of HIV infection among African-Americans - the highest in the state. "I have to ask myself," board member Judi Miller said, "what the numbers will be in the future if we don't adopt this curriculum."
Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Art Johnson does not have the courage or concern to push a comprehensive sex education program from elementary school to high school. Meanwhile, younger girls - ages 10, 11 and 12 - are getting pregnant, and more teens are getting pregnant for the second or third time.

Experts say that the increased births - 440,000 to teenagers last year - were troubling but not surprising, since rates of such sexually transmitted diseases as syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia have been rising. The increased, unprotected sexual activity coincides with a more than doubling of the millions since 2001 - President Bush's first year - that the federal government has spent on abstinence-only education programs with guidelines based on ideology, not science.

Last year, Florida received $10.7 million in federal money for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. The rates of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, continue to rise. Dr. Johnson and state officials need to ask themselves: What will the numbers be if we continue to bury our heads in the sand?