Sex Ed Must Be Based In Reality

Superintendent of Schools Anne Fox has good intentions in demanding that the few Idaho school districts receiving federal AIDS education money teach only abstinence as a prevention method.

Abstinence certainly is the best way, bar none, to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including the deadly HIV virus that causes AIDS. You don’t need a medical degree to figure that out.

But Fox, in taking her stand last week, ignored reality.

The reality? A lot of Idaho teenagers, maybe as many as half of the high school seniors, are sexually active - whether grownups like to admit it or not. These youngsters should be warned about the physical, emotional and spiritual consequences of sex while being taught how best to protect themselves from disease and pregnancy.

An AIDS awareness program that truly emphasizes abstinence while discussing other means of prevention does just that.

But here’s the rub.

Too many health teachers give only lip service to the benefits of abstinence, not the least of which is the old-fashioned notion of moral purity, while talking up condoms and chlamydia.

Such half-heartedness toward the best prevention makes parents, patrons and even educators suspicious. Toss in horror stories about the occasional rogue instructor who makes news with graphic demonstrations on how to apply condoms and dental dams. And the result is, many are willing to believe AIDS awareness training promotes promiscuity and homosexuality as the moral equivalent of heterosexuality.

Fox’s decision to tie about $240,000 in federal AIDS prevention grants to abstinence shows she’s listening to skeptics, not all of whom are are religious fundamentalists, who demand a higher standard in their schools.

She also needs to listen to Cameron Lewis of the Idaho Sexually Transmitted Diseases-AIDS Program in the Division of Health.

Said Lewis: “There’s absolutely no research out there that shows abstinence-only programs have any effect at all whereas there is a lot of research by the Centers for Disease Control and other groups that show abstinence-based programs are very successful.”

The federal money involved here doesn’t amount to much. Only 20 or so of Idaho’s 112 school districts receive modest grants from the federal AIDS education program. But the principle here is important.

Sex education programs jeopardize youngsters’ health when too much faith is place in “safe-sex” techniques or when only abstinence is taught.

Fortunately, abstinence is regaining its popularity as youngsters realize the dangers of premarital sex.

A balanced approach to sex education and AIDS awareness instruction is needed to meet the needs of all youngsters.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria/For the editorial board