Friday, January 23, 2009

Well-Written Objection to Abstinence Education

by Teresa

I’ve written in this space before about the issue of teens having sex… and the stubborn view of some adults who think they can eradicate teen pregnancy and STD’s simply by telling kids… not to have sex.  It’s an unrealistic, and (according to many reports and studies) ineffective, unsuccessful approach.  Recently a blogger on Babble.com, a parenting website, took on the topic of abstinence education and she expressed her objections so well, I just had to share them here. It’s simply one of the best arguments against abstinence-only education that I’ve read in a long time.

Katie Allison Granju writes the blog called Home/Work ... she also writes a couple other blogs and has written parenting books.  Recently her daughter’s school notified parents of their intention to begin a program of abstinence-based sex education.  Admirably, Granju did not stay silent.  She sent a letter to the school explaining why she believes it’s a bad idea.

She calls her post, “Abstinence, meet a mama who objects,“ and I’d like to quote one of the best passages: “Your letter introducing the program states that the teens will learn that sex outside of marriage has ‘consequences’ that include STDs, unplanned pregnancy and ‘heartbreak.‘  In fact, these things are not consequences of sex outside of marriage, but the consequences of physically unsafe or emotionally unwise sexual activity. Marriage does not prevent ANY of these negative consequences, and to suggest otherwise is misleading.“

I couldn’t agree more with that, and several of her other points as well.  If you have a teenager, check out what she has to say on the topic.  She really makes a great argument.