IFI E-Alert: Liberals target abstinence education in lobbying day in Springfield; Project Reality responds
3/15/2005 11:21:00 PM
By Peter LaBarbera, IFI Executive Director
ACTION: Oppose SB 267 and SB 457 by calling Health and Human Services Committee members, and your state senator. Here's an analysis of the two bills from veteran pro-family lobbyist Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch:
SB 267 will work to change public policy in Illinois from Abstinence Until Marriage to Comprehensive Sex Education (similar to SB 99 last session). SB 457 will be used to create grants to fund the teaching of comprehensive sex education. Both are in the Health and Human Services Committee Wednesday, March 16 at 9 AM.
Our friends at Project Reality, a leading abstinence advocacy group, based in Illinois, sent out the following press release in response to the lobby campaign for "comprehensive" sex-ed in our state:
Illinois Opponents Attack Successful Abstinence Programs
Condoms-first promoters disagree with abstinence focus
Glenview, IL (March 15, 2005)--A survey attacking abstinence programs commissioned by the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health and Planned Parenthood of Illinois, is evidence of how alarmed opponents are by the positive results of abstinence education programs, according to Project Reality.
"The survey found that 89% of teachers surveyed in Illinois focus their sex education classes on abstinence, and this was not good news for condoms-first sex education advocates," said Libby Gray, Director of Project Reality.
The results of this survey are being used to advocate for Senate Bills 457 and 267 that provide more funding for so-called "comprehensive" sex education programs in Illinois. In fact, the federal government spends about $12 to promote contraception for every $1 spent on abstinence education (Government Accounting Office, 2002). A study of the most widely used comprehensive sex education programs found that only 4.7% of their materials focus on teaching abstinence at all (Heritage Foundation, 2004).
On the other hand, abstinence education programs have been growing in number and popularity among schools over the last decade, with nearly 100,000 students being served by Project Reality's programs alone in Illinois this year. As a result, the teen birth rates are at a record low according to the Illinois Department of Public Health report released last week. Pro- abstinence efforts were credited as contributing to this decline.
Much of the content of the types of so- called "comprehensive" sex education programs that these bills recommend is never scrutinized for accuracy or content and is based on the assumption that most teens will become sexually active, which is not reflective of the most recent data on teen sexual behavior. Two such programs, Be Proud! Be Responsible and Focus on Kids, encourage teens to imagine ways to "eroticize condom use with (their) partner" (page 78-79) and assign teens to create a list of ways to be close to a person without having intercourse, including, "body massage, bathing together, masturbation, sensuous feeding, fantasizing, watching erotic movies, reading erotic books and magazines (page 137)."
"In contrast, abstinence programs give students real refusal skills and life skills, not condom skills," Gray said.
"'Comprehensive' sex education programs, which actually encourage teen sexual activity, should be examined for age-appropriateness and effectiveness," said Gray. "Clearly, the motivation behind these attacks is the fact that abstinence programs are being supported by the public and are growing in number because of their cost-effective impact. This upsets groups who have been exclusively receiving funding for contraception promotion and education in the past and who, to a great degree, depend on teen sexual activity in order to justify their many clinics and services ."
In contrast, despite decades of research, not a single "comprehensive sex-ed" program has been shown to lower rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV, and pregnancy, according to Rosenburg Communications.
"Most taxpayers would be shocked by visiting Planned Parenthood's Web site for teens (www.teenwire.com) to see what "comprehensive" sex education is really all about," said Gray. "Promoters of this type of sex education are out of step with the mainstream American teen and parent."
For more information on the content of the types of programs being proposed in this legislation, please contact Project Reality at 847-729-3298. For more information, visit www.projectreality.org.
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Libby also pointed us to a helpful study comparing abstinence education to "comprehensive" sex-ed, by the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.: Comprehensive Sex Education vs. Authentic Abstinence: A Study of Competing Curricula.
Project Reality; email: info@projectreality.org
phone: 847-729-3298
web: www.projectreality.org
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