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Abstinence only abandoned in W's own backyard
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In his budget proposal released earlier this year, President Barack Obama took on a number of items near and dear to the heart of his predecessor. One of those items was sex education, or as most experts in the field would argue, the lack thereof: George W. Bush was a strong and vocal proponent of teaching abstinence only, a program which advises teens to abstain from sex until marriage but does not educate them about safe sex and birth control. George W. Bush pushed for, and had the government pay for, abstinence only as President, and also as Governor of Texas.
Now a number of school districts in Texas are agreeing with the current president and not the former one: abstinence only doesn't work.
As reported in the Austin American-Statesman, school districts across the state, including Austin's, are moving to adopt more comprehensive sex education programs, ones that include information about birth control and safe sex. School administrators sited their own figures for why the change is needed as well as those from national organizations; total pregnancies in Austin among middle and high school students were the most since 2003-2004, the rate of high school pregnancy increased 57% in one year, and a report from the American Medical Association said schools that taught abstinence showed "no delay of initiating sexual activity, no reduction in the number of sexual partners, and no increase in abstinence."
Texas is not alone in moving away from the program; half of all states withdrew from abstinence only funding before President Obama allowed it to expire. But the irony is hard to miss since the fight for abstinence only was waged the hardest in Bush's home state; Texas received more federal dollars to fund abstinence only than any other state, over $1 billion, yet Houston leads the nation in teen births for children under the age of 15.
One of the loudest critics of the program is a Texan herself. Cecile Richards, the President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is the daughter of former Texas Governor Ann Richards, and in a speech given earlier this month in San Antonio, Texas, Richards said, "I refuse to call abstinence only 'education.' It's a political program, and we're only now beginning to see what is has brought us."
In a recent statement Texas State Senators Rodney Ellis and Ellen Cohen called for an end to abstinence only. "The current approach is not working for young people, taxpayers and ultimately the state...it's time to put sound programs in place with a focus on comprehensive sex education because what we do know is that education works."
Facts are hard to argue with. Even deep in the heart of Texas.
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