By Rebecca Blake Chaikin
(Cross Posted with the RACBlog)

The National Abstinence Education Association is in the midst of launching an aggressive campaign to drum up support among parents for sex education curricula that teaches abstinence only until marriage. They are hoping to enlist 1 million parents to lobby their local schools to adopt such curricula and to elect candidates in all levels and branches of government who support this agenda.

What is truly egregious about this campaign is that its proponents, like much of the abstinence-only curricula itself, twist the truth and even straight out lie. A debate over ideals and what's best for our nation's youth and health is more than welcome, but let's at least agree to be candid, truthful, and honorable in the exchange.

Valerie Huber, the executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, an advocacy group here in DC, rolled out the campaign by claiming, as reported in the Washington Post, "There are powerful special interest groups who can far outspend what parents can in terms of promoting their agenda. But we recognize that parents more than make up for that by their determination and motivation to protect their own children."

Well, Ms. Huber is right, except the powerful special interest groups at play are not so much those promoting comprehensive sex education (such as the Union for Reform Judaism and dozens of other faith traditions) as they are those who vehemently oppose it (including, notably, the President of the United States who has secured over $1 billion in federal funds for abstinence-only curricula). And parents are determined and motivated to protect their children, which is probably why 91% of them favor age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education for their high schoolers, and 93% favor such curricula for their junior high schoolers.

In fact, the substantial majority of parents feel that government money "should be used to fund more comprehensive sex education programs that include information on how to obtain and use condoms and other contraceptives." Maybe it's because these parents know that the reality is that the majority of people in the U.S. become sexually active before they get married, and many first become active as teenagers.

Maybe they are fed up with abstinence-only curricula, and it's supporters like the National Abstinence Education Association, claiming that candidly educating our youth about their reproductive health encourages sexual activity--a claim that has been repeatedly disproved by scientific studies. Or maybe it's because the physical and mental health of their kids is at stake.

Whatever the reasons, let's continue to press our government to listen to the truth, instead of catering to the real biased, minority special interests.

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