Press Release
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly
Abstinence-Only Sex Education
Feature, Original Broadcast Date: February 4, 2005 (Show #823):
Over the past five years, the U.S. government has spent more than $800 million dollars on school programs that teach abstinence-only sex education. These federally-funded programs, strongly supported by the Bush Administration, represent a growing belief in middle and high schools across the country that the only solution to teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases is total abstinence until marriage. But is it the best way to educate kids about sex? Lucky Severson explores the heated debate over sex education in America's schools and whether abstinence-only programs are really effective. According to Marilyn Morris, who runs "Aim for Success" -- the country's largest abstinence-only sex education program, "I think that you have to understand that what we have been doing in America for all 35 years is encouraging comprehensive sex education. And what that did is encourage sexual activity." But Vilka Scott Kitching, a disease intervention specialist at the Lubbock, Texas Health Department, takes an opposite view: "Time and time again we have people in our clinic who come totally unprepared to face a disease of that nature because nobody had spoken to them about the consequences of starting to have sex without any protection."
Featured (in alphabetical order):
Ed Ainsworth, Whiteheart Communications
Adam Hernandez, Student
Vilka Scott Kitching, Disease Intervention Specialist, Lubbock Health Department
Marilyn Morris, President and Founder, Aim For Success
Erica Vales, Student
Darlene Workman, School Nurse, Vines High School
Over the past five years, the U.S. government has spent more than $800 million dollars on school programs that teach abstinence-only sex education. These federally-funded programs, strongly supported by the Bush Administration, represent a growing belief in middle and high schools across the country that the only solution to teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases is total abstinence until marriage. But is it the best way to educate kids about sex? Lucky Severson explores the heated debate over sex education in America's schools and whether abstinence-only programs are really effective. According to Marilyn Morris, who runs "Aim for Success" -- the country's largest abstinence-only sex education program, "I think that you have to understand that what we have been doing in America for all 35 years is encouraging comprehensive sex education. And what that did is encourage sexual activity." But Vilka Scott Kitching, a disease intervention specialist at the Lubbock, Texas Health Department, takes an opposite view: "Time and time again we have people in our clinic who come totally unprepared to face a disease of that nature because nobody had spoken to them about the consequences of starting to have sex without any protection."
Featured (in alphabetical order):
Ed Ainsworth, Whiteheart Communications
Adam Hernandez, Student
Vilka Scott Kitching, Disease Intervention Specialist, Lubbock Health Department
Marilyn Morris, President and Founder, Aim For Success
Erica Vales, Student
Darlene Workman, School Nurse, Vines High School