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The Forum > Article Comments > Let's advocate abstinence to our teens > Comments

Let's advocate abstinence to our teens : Comments

By Brian Harradine, published 24/2/2005

Brian Harradine argues that we should educate teens to abstain from sex.

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I didn't read this article, I skimmed it and found his term sexperts amusing. I suggest that none of you should read articles like this, maybe just skim them and for goodness sake do not comment about the man or his arguments. TheOtherSilentMajority this applies particularly to you, don't give these people the power of voice, just post comments which are nothing to do with him. Silence is golden, shower.

thankyou and goodnight.
Posted by Penekiko, Thursday, 24 February 2005 10:25:40 PM
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Brian Harradines tales of wonderful results of abstinance based programmes in the US are not born out buy the facts. Despite the dominance of the Christian right in US public policy over many years it has the highest rate of HIV infection, the highest rate of teen pregnancy, the highest abortion rate, the highest rate of drug related deaths and the highest murder rate in the developed world. Ex Seator Harradine should look to real world, real time, result orientated programmes, rather than the prosletising hypocrites that dominate US social policy,if he is serious about creating a better world.
Posted by Ron T, Thursday, 24 February 2005 11:46:32 PM
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Some facts for Mr Moodie (and others):

Teen sexual activity has the potential to kill or maim - just like drugs! Even using condoms, one still has a 1 in 6 chance of contracting AIDS. Russian roulette anyone?

In USA, births to teenagers under 20 fell to 479,067 in 2000, 50,000 below the 1990 number (Center for Disease Control, National Vital Statistics Report, 2001). In California, from 1990 to 1998, teen birth rates (ages 15-19) declined 42.3% among White/Other, 37.4% among African Americans, 30.5% among Asian/Pacific Islanders and 12.5% among Hispanics (Maternal & Child Health Branch, California Department of Health Services, 2002).

A recently published comprehensive review of research on programs to prevent teen pregnancy found that "more programs to prevent teen pregnancy are making a real difference in encouraging teens to remain abstinent or use contraception when they have sex." (Center for Disease Control, National Vital Statistics Report, 2001)

National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health, a large-scale, survey of highschool students, has suggested that enhancing the connections of teenagers to their family, home, school, and community protects teenagers from array of risky behaviors, including sexual activity (Center for Disease Control, National Vital Statistics Report, 2001).

Moodie says we should look to The Netherlands since they have lowest teen rates. But what Moodie doesn't say is that in the past seven years, Dutch out-of-wedlock birthrate has been moving up at strikingly high rate of 2% per year. It is extremely rare for a Western country's out-of-wedlock birthrate to sustain a 2%-per-year increase for seven consecutive years! In the '90s, only two European countries — Finland and Ireland — approached such a rise (without achieving it).

While it is true that Netherlands had low teen pregnancy rates, this appears to be result of attitudes lingering from Holland's strongly religious past. For all the changes in the Dutch family since the 60s, they still believed that couples ought to marry before having children.

And no, the Dutch govt's registered partnerships laws (1998) cannot explain the increase. The number of registered heterosexual partnerships is too small to explain the surging birthrate.

AK
Posted by Aslan, Friday, 25 February 2005 1:42:56 AM
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Dear Mr Haill,

Yes, abstinence is ONE option but it is NOT taught! The SHine SA sex education course used by govt schools in SA did not mention abstinence once! - although it talked quite a lot about homosexual 'sex' (if you can call it that). After much protestation from parents, students, family groups and the opposition, the course was substantially rewritten and included teaching on abstinence.

Yes, I guess having 1 bullet in your 6-shooter when you put it to your head and pull the trigger, is 'safer' than having 6 bullets - but if you keep doing it you will inevitably blow your brains out.

We can't force students to not have sex, but they do need to know that the only 'safe sex' is abstinence before marriage and monogamy thereafter.

AK
Posted by Aslan, Friday, 25 February 2005 1:54:24 AM
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Hi Aslan,

Education is a wonderful thing but it's important to get the whole picture into perspective or else key pieces can be omitted.

You are right that abstinence is not taught in some places, but, equally, it is taught to the exclusion of all other options in some countries. Indeed, the US government makes a lot of its HIV/AIDS prevention funding contingent on the abstinence message alone as a qualifier. That's to be condemned.

If we are agreed that education is vital, lifesaving even, then all of the options and all of the information must be put on the table.
Too many, especially women and girls, are denied a comprehensive sex education let alone the facts on HIV transmission.

You can read more about this on our HIV/AIDS resource website at http://www.aids.net.au. Click onto the Home page icon titled HIV/AIDS & sEX INFO.A drop down menu will show you a host of information areas.

What troubles me are the contradictions in the picture.

I object strongly to the inclusion of a Catholic priest, Jesuit Fr Michael Kelly having a place on Health Minister Abbott's HIV/AIDS Advisory Subcommittee given that Fr Kelly is a vocal opponent of condoms while the government itself underscores their usage as a key plank in its HIV/AIDS prevention strategy.

We've called on Fr kelly to step down because of this contradiction...and we've also lobbied Health Minister Abbott to stand him down because of the risk of mixed signals being sent out into the community. Mr Abbott says Fr Kelly's views are private...but we've had to tell him that they're not...they're very public indeed. He's the CEO of Church Resources, which publishes the eforum daily newsletter, CathNews.com.au which proclaim his views on condoms very clearly.

If you too feel as strongly as us perhaps you could visit the Catholic AIDS Ministry page of our website and read the material there (That page is found in the About Us area)and then send your objections to Mr Tony Abbott, the Federal Health Minister, at Parliament House, Canberra.

With regards,
Brian Haill,
President,
The Australian AIDS Fund Inc.,
Melbourne.
Posted by Sydney, Friday, 25 February 2005 8:21:45 AM
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Further to my previous post, Esther Kaplan comments, "While providers of comprehensive sex education and promoters of safe sex are in the business of saving lives, abstinence educators are primarily in the business of saving souls."

In the USA, a May 2002 legal suit by the ACLU in the State of Louisiana revealed the degree to which federally funded abstinence programs were deeply permeated with Christian evangelical messages.

One grant recipient, the Rapides Station Community Ministries, wrote, "December was an excellent month for our program. We were able to focus on the virgin birth and make it apparent that God desires sexual purity as a way of life."

Another, the Just Say "Whoa" abstinence theatre troupe, used a character called "Bible Guy" and told students sex outside of marriage is "offensive to God". A third group, Passion 4 Purity, reported teaching abstinence through "scriptural concepts".

In July 2002, a federal judge finally ordered the state of Louisiana to stop giving money to groups such as these that "convey religious messages or otherwise advance religion" with tax dollars.
Posted by grace pettigrew, Friday, 25 February 2005 10:32:00 AM
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