Ignorance is bliss - not

Last Saturday I said that the Shrub team's approach to sex education - advocating abstinence-only programs despite the evidence that they don't work - was a perfect example of their approach to science. It now appears that the approach to science among those who designed the programs is even looser.

As revealed by a study by the staff of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and reported in the Mercury News (CA) on Friday,

[m]any 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...."

Several million children ages 9 to 18 have participated in the more than 100 federal abstinence programs since they 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....

Among the misconceptions Waxman's investigators cited:

• A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person."

• HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears.

• Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.

One curriculum, called "Me, My World, My Future," teaches that women who have an abortion "are more prone to suicide" and that up to 10 percent of them become sterile.

Other distortions and false claims mentioned in the executive summary of the study, the whole of which is available in .pdf format here, were

- condoms do not help prevent the spread of STDs;
- pregnancy results in one out of every seven times that couples use condoms; and
- premature births and both tubal and cervical pregnancies are more likely among women who've had abortions.

The curricula also present as scientific fact stereotypes of men and women (women need "financial support," men need "admiration"; women focus on "relationships," men focus on "accomplishments") and the claim that "life begins" at fertilization.

But of course the ostriches at the White House didn't care and in typical right wing fashion, responded by trying to change the subject.

Alma Golden, deputy assistant Health and Human Services Secretary for population affairs, said the Waxman report took statements out of context to present the programs in the worst possible light.

"These issues have been raised before and discredited," Golden said. "One thing is very clear for our children, abstaining from sex is the most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs and preventing pregnancy."

Wait - you mean all of those statements that fly in the face of scientific reality are actually true? Really? Wow, and here I thought facts were supposed to be the centerpiece of these programs. Clearly, I was wrong.

Oh, and by the way: No one is arguing that total abstinence is not "the most effective means" of preventing unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STDs. No one has or would make such a foolish argument. So put aside the straw figures and face the actual issue: The programs you endorse are full of errors and lies, they leave young people ill-equipped to deal with the realities of sexuality in the world around them and they do not work!