Keeping Society Safe by Preventing Adults from Having Sex

With over $1 billion spent on abstinence-only education since 1998, and practically every research body that isn't controlled by the U.S. government reporting that abstinence-only education doesn't work, you might be wondering where the current administration is going to go next with their no-sex-until-marriage dog and pony show, since the kids don't seem to be listening to it.

They're hoping they can get adults to listen to them now. In a recent call for proposals to fund abstinence-only programs, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the abstinence-only funds, states that the funds are for programs that "target adolescents and/or adults within the age range of 12 through 29."

It was bad enough when the administration was using public money to fund a campaign of misinformation for youth, but now they're going to use your money to try and convince a 29 year old to wait until they are married to have sex. Can someone please explain who benefits from this?

The call goes on to explain what qualifies as abstinence education. It's a chilling read:

For purposes of this section, the term “abstinence education” means an educational or motivational program which—

(A) has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity;

(B) teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for all school age children;

(C) teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems;

(D) teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity;

(E) teaches that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects;

(F) teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child’s parents, and society;

(G) teaches young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increases vulnerability to sexual advances; and

(H) teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity.

6 of the 8 above statements are patently false. There is simply no legitimate, scientifically rigorous body of work that can be used to support such broad statements. Why there isn't a critical mass of protest about the fact that the government is using the people's money to fund a campaign of misinformation, and one that has shown itself to be ineffective, boggles the mind. Or maybe the critical mass is just around the corner, around the mid-term elections. When are they again?

Read more about abstinence-only education