Washington Times columnist, Cheryl Wetzstein, makes some poignant observations in her article, "'Lack' of sex ed is exaggerated." She compares the actual data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding sex education and knowledge of birth control against the exaggerated claims that "more money, more condoms and more birth-control education" are needed.
In truth, "access" to birth control or condoms is not the issue, nor is there a supposed "shortage" of birth-control education among teens.
Sex outside of marriage is the issue. And, it's not as "safe" as Planned Parenthood, SIECUS and liberal pre-marital sex advocates would have teens and the U.S. Congress believe.
"Protection" for casual sex is not all it's cracked up to be. Many still have unintended pregnancies, and half of all youth will have a sexually transmitted disease before the age of 25.
The CDC report indicates that people (15-44 yrs) chose not to use birth control or condoms based on unwanted side effects and preference – not for lack of access to condoms or sex education.
More Observations from Wetzstein's Article...
"Use of Contraception in the United States: 1982-2008," released this summer from the CDC:
•The National Center for Health Statistics found that more than 95 percent of U.S. teens have had "formal instruction" in sex education, which makes "today's observation is about the so-called lack of formal education about birth control for teens" somewhat of a false claim. And how many millions more dollars are being poured into this supposed "educational void" about birth control?
•Teens would need to be aware of birth control in order to use it, right? Well, according to another federal report, they are using it. Twenty-eight percent of 10.4 million teen girls, ages 15 to 19, use a birth-control method, evidence that they know what it is and how to get it. (If this percent seems small, remember, most teen girls aren't sexually active and have no need for these products).
•Moreover, 99 percent of sexually experienced American women, ages 15 to 44, say they have used some form of birth control in their lives. This figure — which essentially means birth-control use is "universal" among U.S. women.
•CDC report points to other reasons: More than 13 million women stopped using the pill because it gave them "side effects."
•And around 1.4 million women stopped using the pill — full pause here — because they got pregnant while taking it.
•Cost, insurance coverage and access were only minor reasons women said they stopped using the pill.
•And when it came to condoms, virtually no one stopped using them because they were difficult to get. Instead, the biggest reasons to skip the condoms were because the women's male partners didn't like them …
•Women "worried that the [condom] would not work." That fear of failure was valid, by the way, since about 277,000 women said they became pregnant while using condoms (2006-08).
Before multiple millions of taxpayer dollars are spent trying to mask the consequences – or treat the "symptoms" – of sex outside of marriage with more birth control and more condoms, maybe we need to ask Congress, "What will this accomplish?"
It looks to me more like an exaggerated effort to super-fund something that doesn't need anymore funding at all.
Source: CitizenLink
Publish Date: October 13, 2010
