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Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says

By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 2, 2004; Page A01

Many American youngsters participating in federally funded
abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that
abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male
teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus,
and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a
congressional staff analysis has found.

Those and other assertions are examples of the "false, misleading, or
distorted information" in the programs' teaching materials, said the
analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than
a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually
transmitted disease.

In providing nearly $170 million next year to fund groups that teach
abstinence only, the Bush administration, with backing from the
Republican Congress, is investing heavily in a just-say-no strategy for
teenagers and sex. But youngsters taking the courses frequently receive
medically inaccurate or misleading information, often in direct
contradiction to the findings of government scientists, said the report,
by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), a critic of the administration who
has long argued for comprehensive sex education.

Several million children ages 9 to 18 have participated in the more than
100 federal abstinence programs since the efforts began in 1999.
Waxman's staff reviewed the 13 most commonly used curricula -- those
used by at least five programs apiece.

The report concluded that two of the curricula were accurate but the 11
others, used by 69 organizations in 25 states, contain unproved claims,
subjective conclusions or outright falsehoods regarding reproductive
health, gender traits and when life begins. In some cases, Waxman said
in an interview, the factual issues were limited to occasional
misinterpretations of publicly available data; in others, the materials
pervasively presented subjective opinions as scientific fact.

More >>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A26623-2004Dec1

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Thomas A. Beckett, JD & MBA              Business Law and Consulting
Western NC - 828-713-1668               Research Triangle - 919-824-5696
<http://www.tbeckett.com>                          <thomas AT tbeckett.com>
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