Abstinence message goes beyond teens
Updated 10/31/2006 8:32 AM ET
By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
The federal government's "no sex without marriage" message isn't just for kids anymore.
Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.
The government says the change is a clarification. But critics say it's a clear signal of a more directed policy targeting the sexual behavior of adults.
"They've stepped over the line of common sense," said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that supports sex education. "To be preaching abstinence when 90% of people are having sex is in essence to lose touch with reality. It's an ideological campaign. It has nothing to do with public health."
Abstinence education programs, which have focused on preteens and teens, teach that abstaining from sex is the only effective or acceptable method to prevent pregnancy or disease. They give no instruction on birth control or safe sex.
Keep in mind that "ignorance-only" sex ed doesn't work, either. The fact that our government is trying to discourage consenting adults from having sex is astounding. But then, if they're targeting an age group which has spent the last ten years as teenagers listening to their anti-sex spiel, it's probably the safest bet.
"If you're in your twenties, don't have sex! You've spent puberty learning about sex from our ignorance-only programs, which don't teach you shit!"
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