A Needed Reconsideration

Photo by FLICKR/ewedistrict/28313689/ I'll see what I can do.

ALEXANDRIA, VA. - While at the 2008 Democratic Compassion Forum at Messiah College, then presidential hopeful and senator Barack Obama was asked about what he believed was the best way to fight the AIDS virus.

Obama answered, “My view is that we should use whatever the best approaches are, the scientifically sound approaches are, to reduce this devastating disease. Part of that should be a strong education component and I think abstinence education is important. I also think that contraception is important…”

Though professing belief that abstinence education was valuable to the fight against AIDS upon taking office President Barack Obama removed $170 million of federal funding for abstinence only education.  

There is a valid reasoning for this apparent contradiction. Obama and those opposed to abstinence only education for our schools noted a series of studies allegedly proving such programs are ineffective in reducing teen pregnancies and unsafe sexual behavior.

However, on the first day of February 2010 sex education researchers may have delivered a strong blow to the intellectual reasoning behind this defunding decision. Professor John B. Jemmott III and his colleagues conducted a study of 662 sixth and seventh grade students who took various sex education classes.

The results showed that while almost half of those in comprehensive sex education classes became sexually active over the next two years, only a third of those enrolled in the abstinence focused classes became sexually active over the same time period.

Those taking classes that stressed abstinence were less likely to engage in sexual behavior than their peers who were took classes that stressed a comprehensive approach, which would mean abstinence and safe sex given equal attention in the curriculum.

Many in news media have expressed surprise over this finding. Rob Stein of the Washington Post wrote that it was “a landmark study that could have major implications for U.S. efforts to protect young people against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.”

Blogger Kelly Brewington of the Baltimore Sun said the study “could reignite the debate over what's the best method to reverse the teen pregnancy rate and prevent sexually transmitted diseases.”  

This is surprising because of public policy trends that have become popular these days. Before Obama removed the funding for abstinence only education, former Democratic governor Tim Kaine did likewise for Virginia.
 
In 2007,  Kaine stirred the ire of moral conservatives by defunding abstinence only education, saying like Obama that although he respects abstinence education he believed it was not enough.

Even before this study came out, these politicians should have been more akin to what was happening here and around the world. Though some studies before this one had said abstinence only education was not working, other said it was.

On a global scale, there is Uganda.  During the 1990s, HIV prevalence was high, with a nearly 25 percent infection rate. In response to this, the Ugandan government implemented an ABC approach to sex education, A standing for “abstain”, B standing for “be faithful”, and C standing for “condom.”

The strong emphasis was for monogamy and abstinence, with condoms as a last resort. By the beginning of the 21st century Uganda’s AIDS rate decreased by 70 percent.   

Though some claimed the success of Uganda in greatly reducing its AIDS rate came more from condom usage and less from abstinence and fidelity, the British AIDS awareness organization NAM says otherwise.

In an online article, Michael Carter of NAM documented how during the 1990s when Uganda implemented the ABC education approach condom usage was just as common in neighboring countries as it was in Uganda and yet only Uganda had a significant drop in HIV infections.

As Carter writes, “Prevention messages were simple and included a clear warning about the danger of HIV, and basic advice about behavioural change – ‘zero grazing’, in other words, ‘faithfulness to one partner’. More sophisticated messages about condom use were not part of the initial strategy and came later, after reductions in HIV incidence had already been achieved.”

All of this will hopefully lead Obama and the Virginia government to reconsider what they have done. Abstinence only education has plenty of evidence to vindicate its existence and has certainly done more good than many programs and ideas that receive millions of federal dollars on an annual basis.

Gryboski lives in Alexandria and is a Local Kicks contributor.