According to a Reuters report, after Republican Tennessee Rep. John Duncan reviewed testimony from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, the U.S. Institute of Medicine, the American Psychological Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists all pointing to the failures of abstinence-only education to protect the sexual health of youth, he responded that,

it seems "rather elitist" that people with academic degrees in health think they know better than parents what type of sex education is appropriate. "I don't think it's something we should abandon," he said of abstinence-only funding.

It immediately made me think of the way The Daily Show has been dealing with is-Obama-elitist farce. And more seriously it’s painful to hear this stuff coming from the mouths of people we elected to represent us. If they think they know best, or parents in general know best, how do they explain the dismal STD rates, and the fact that the U.S. has the highest rates of unplanned pregnancies among Western countries?

Also the idea that parents somehow naturally know the right thing to do when it comes to sex education is a fiction. Why is there a multi-million dollar industry catering to educating parents on everything from toilet training to dealing with aggressive behavior? How come parents need help with everything other than talking about sex?

I understand that these politicians, just like almost all adults, just don’t want to think about their kids being sexual. And I understand that promoting abstinence only education allows them to bury their heads so deep in the sand that they can’t hear or see a thing. The problem is that our kids are paying the price now, and we all pay the price eventually.

p.s. if you’re an ostrich fan, my apologies for perpetuating the myth. I couldn’t find a picture of a politician with blinders on, so this had to do.

Read more - Reuters: Experts say sex abstinence program doesn't work

Previously - National Study Shows Comprehensive Sex Ed. More Effective ; Abstinence-only programs don’t help, but do they hurt? ; Is Sex Ed. Enough? ; What's Behind the Drop in Teen Pregnancy in the U.S.?

_{Photo credit: Digital Zoo/Getty Images}