Texas revisits Abstinence

From National Review Online:

Heritage's Melissa Pardue writes on the abstinence issue in Sex Ed.

The meat:

The Texas board of education has held two hearings to help it decide how to vote on Nov. 5, when board members will rule on whether to replace health textbooks now in circulation with updated texts, beginning in the 2005-06 school year.

The stakes are high. Texas is the country's second-largest buyer of textbooks (after California), and publishing companies often market the books that Texas adopts to the other 49 states. The updated texts could be required to include information on abstinence as well as medically accurate information on sex education. That means facts on the ineffectiveness of condoms and other forms of contraception in preventing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and pregnancy. The current textbooks fail to explain that abstinence is the only 100-percent-effective method to prevent STDs and pregnancy.

Nationwide, ten scientific studies prove that abstinence education reduces teen sexual activity and dramatically decreases out-of-wedlock childbearing.

And this money stat:

A recent Zogby poll found that three out of every four parents disapproved or strongly disapproved of "abstinence-plus" curricula. About the same number say they want their children to receive an authentic abstinence education. An overwhelming 91 percent say they want their teens taught that sex is best when it is linked to love, intimacy, and commitment — qualities most likely to occur in a faithful marriage.

Now, while yes, it is true that being taught that sex is best when it is linked to love, intimacy, and commitment would also fall under "parenting", the point here is that 91 percent of parents don't want the school to be working against them.