COMMENTARY | Abstinence-only agenda ignores progress made with sex education
As the nation’s largest provider of sex education, Planned Parenthood knows that young people need to understand what a healthy relationship looks like and have the opportunity to practice good communication skills before they become sexually active. We know that young people need developmentally appropriate, medically accurate information and answers to their questions about sex and relationships, without being shamed or judged. We are proud to provide sex education and health services that help young people plan their futures.
It’s gratifying that the rate of unintended pregnancy among teens in the United States has reached a historic low, and that more young people are delaying sexual activity and using birth control when they do have sex.
But we still have work to do. In 2014, Multnomah County released a report that measured racial inequities across 33 indicators, including teen births, noting a decline for all groups but a continuing gap between whites and most minorities.
The Adolescents and Communities Together project was designed to address these health disparities among American Indians/Alaskan Natives, Blacks/African Americans and Latinas/Latinos. In addition to high teen birth rates, these same youth also experience disparities for many co-occurring risk factors such as sexually transmitted diseases, socioeconomic disadvantage, educational attainment and lack of positive youth development opportunities.
The project brings together community organizations to implement evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs for populations at greatest need. Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, Native American Youth and Family Center, Self Enhancement Inc., Latino Network, Boys and Girls Clubs of Portland Metropolitan Area, Multnomah County Health Department and schools are equipping young people with the knowledge and the tools needed to make healthy choices about their sexual health; to be comfortable talking about sexuality with partners, families and peers; and to thrive and succeed educationally.
Access to information, resources and quality health care is a fundamental right and shouldn’t depend on who we are or where we live. All young people deserve to have the information they need to make safe and healthy choices.
Unfortunately, the Trump-Pence administration is ignoring the needs of young people and trying to radically remake a successful program to impose their ideology on everyone — and it’s putting lives at risk. The administration recently announced new grant criteria that push ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, also called “sexual risk avoidance” programs.
A large body of scientific evidence finds that these abstinence-only programs are not effective in delaying sex or preventing sexual risk behaviors. These programs withhold important information and may provide medically inaccurate and stigmatizing information.
If the Trump-Pence administration’s coercive agenda succeeds, as many as 1.2 million young Americans could be blocked from accessing high-quality, evidence-based programs that help them stay healthy and make decisions about their futures.
The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program is important, and it works. For the past seven years, it has made a real and measurable difference in the lives of young people through programs that teach them about sexual health, connect them with health services and help their families communicate better.
Sex education is widely supported by a majority of Americans, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. In fact, a recent survey found that more than 90 percent of parents support sex education in both middle and high school. And the vast majority of parents, Democrats and Republicans alike, want sex education to include a wide range of topics, such as birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, healthy relationships, puberty, sexual orientation and consent. Only 15 percent of likely voters supported programs focused solely on encouraging teens to delay sex until they are married.
This survey is more evidence that sex education should be a nonissue in this country. Congress and the Trump-Pence administration should listen to the American people and stop attacking programs that work.
We need funding and programs that support the full range of topics young people need to stay healthy and meet their life goals. That’s why Planned Parenthood will never stop fighting for them in Oregon.
Jimmy Radosta serves as Communications and Marketing Director for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon. For more information visit PPAOregon.org.
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