Paying for Abstinence

These days, I spend much of my time fuming over the Bush administration's arrogant, nasty dismissal of anyone who dares express even the teensiest reservation about the rush to war. But a recent Washington Post piece reminded me that, even as we prepare to send American troops marching into Baghdad, there are still important domestic issues over which this White House should be thoroughly and repeatedly slapped.

The Post piece details accusations by sex-education advocates and HIV-prevention groups that the Bushies are "waging a widespread campaign of disinformation and intimidation that is hampering AIDS prevention work across the country." The groups--including Advocates for Youth, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the Gay Men's Health Crisis--expressed concern that a Health and Human Services (HHS) review of all grants to AIDS prevention, treatment, and research groups is in part motivated by the administration's hostility toward any form of sex ed that does not focus solely on abstinence.

HHS has also launched an investigation to determine if several AIDS programs either promote sexual activity or are too sexually explicit. By contrast, the head of Advocates for Youth told the Post, HHS has refused to conduct audits of abstinence-only programs--even after a federal court ruled that the state of Louisiana was illegally using its federal abstinence funding to promote religion.

Perhaps even more disturbing, the administration has decided that it should deny the public any health facts that don't fit into its abstinence agenda. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website was purged of information about condoms' effectiveness in preventing the spread of HIV and of the "Programs that Work" section, which discussed several comprehensive sex-ed programs.

A September report by HRW also reveals how some of the abstinence-only programs of which the White House is so enamored sponsor media campaigns that exaggerate the limitations of condoms. Now, this approach may well convince some teens to delay sex, but it could prove disastrous for others. Included in HRW's report are quotes from Texas teens who say they stopped using condoms after they or their boyfriends heard radio ads asserting that condoms don't really work. Fabulous. Just what young guys need: another pathetic excuse to avoid wearing the love glove.

Obviously, groups that believe in comprehensive sex ed are inclined to attribute the worst motives possible to the administration's actions. Our president sowed his wild oats, found Jesus, and now believes that a firm government policy of Just Say No is the only way to protect today's youth from their baser instincts. To this end, Bush has vowed to pump more and more federal dollars into abstinence-only education.

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