A school teacher in Philadelphia recently tweeted his concern over whether classroom discussions about gender and sexuality would be overheard by conservative “helicopter/snowplow parents” now that classes are moving online.
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Last month the federal Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs announced it was awarding $56.3 million to different groups to conduct teen pregnancy prevention programs around the country.
The announcement showed that beginning July 1, the federal government would award more than $1.1 million to Planned Parenthood of Greater New York and more than $684,000 to Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.
The funding is part of a three-year grant from the federal government.
Planned Parenthood will be able to use this money to conduct sex education programs in New York and parts of the Midwest.
We know from experience that Planned Parenthood’s sex education simply does not work.
The Obama Administration gave Planned Parenthood millions of dollars to conduct teen pregnancy prevention programs in the Pacific Northwest.
Students who went through these sex education programs actually were more likely to become pregnant or cause a pregnancy afterward.
In other words, Planned Parenthood’s sex education programs did exactly the opposite of what the federal government had wanted.
In the 1980s and 1990s, public officials in Arkansas promoted Planned Parenthood-style sex education. The programs failed to have a meaningful impact on teen pregnancy and abortion in Arkansas.
These programs focused on teaching public school students about contraceptive use.
During that time, Arkansas’ teen birth rate remained high, and teenagers were among those most likely to have an abortion.
In 1997 the state switched strategies, promoting abstinence-based sex-education in public schools. The results were nothing short of staggering.
Teen birth rates and teen abortion rates in Arkansas plummeted.
From 1997 to 2003, the teen abortion rate fell by approximately 37%, and the teen birth rate fell by 16%.
Arkansas’ abstinence education program was so successful that it garnered national attention from other states.
Despite this history, state legislators narrowly defeated a proposal to implement comprehensive sex education in Arkansas last year.
S.B. 304 by Sen. Will Bond (D – Little Rock) and Rep. LeAnne Burch (D – Monticello) would have made it possible for Planned Parenthood to worm its way into junior high and high schools across Arkansas under the auspices of teaching teen pregnancy prevention and sex education.
The bill was narrowly defeated in the House Education Committee.
All of this underscores why Arkansas does not need to mandate comprehensive sex education in public schools.
If we do, it will almost certainly let groups like Planned Parenthood into our public schools — and they may be able to use the programs to get federal taxpayer funding in the process.
Photo Credit: Planned Parenthood Sticker by dogra on Flickr.
Earlier this week the University of Arkansas’ Arkansas Traveler published an article about sex-education in the state.
The article quoted college students who feel Arkansas should stop promoting abstinence sex-education and instead mandate comprehensive sex-education in its public schools.
One person quoted in the article said the state’s position on sex-education is “archaic” and “fueled by misinformation.”
Here’s the truth about sex-education in Arkansas:
Policymakers in Arkansas worked to implement comprehensive sex-education in the 1980s and 1990s.
These programs focused on teaching public school students about contraceptive use.
During that time, Arkansas’ teen birth rate remained high, and teenagers were among those most likely to have an abortion.
In 1997 the state switched strategies, promoting abstinence-based sex-education in public schools. The results were nothing short of staggering.
Teen birth rates and teen abortion rates in Arkansas plummeted.
From 1997 to 2003, the teen abortion rate fell by approximately 37%, and the teen birth rate fell by 16%.
The program was so successful that it garnered national attention from other states.
In 2016 the federal Center for Disease Control released a 200-page report on sexual health among students.
The report indicated that not only does abstinence education work — it positively affects every area of a student’s life.
The CDC writes, “High school students who are virgins rate significantly and consistently better in nearly all health-related behaviors and measures than their sexually active peers.”
According to the CDC report, students who are abstinent are healthier by virtually every measurement — from bike helmet and seat belt use to substance abuse, diet, doctor’s visits, exercise — even tanning bed use.
Bottom line: If any notion about sex-education is “archaic” and “fueled by misinformation,” it’s the idea that comprehensive sex-education in our public schools will somehow be good for students.
Photo Credit: RebelAt at English Wikipedia [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]
