<![CDATA[
A day after World AIDS Day, when Africa began an “abstain or die” campaign to convince people not to exercise their biological imperative because funding isn’t available to distribute condoms and other preventative technology to stop the spread of AIDS, we learn the federal government is lying to and scaring kids in U.S. abstinence programs. According to the Washington Post:
Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person’s genitals “can result in pregnancy,” a congressional staff analysis has found.
Those and other assertions are examples of the “false, misleading, or distorted information” in the programs’ teaching materials, said the analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.
The report also found kids are instructed about the consciousness of a fetus that establishes personhood almost at conception, that sweat can pass the AIDS virus (so much for heavy petting!) and that women who get abortions are more prone to suicide (they’re not).
I don’t think anyone will simply abstain from physical contact and, frankly, if our kids aren’t exploring one another’s bodies even a little bit (“If you cop a feel, you’re getting a handful of AIDS!”) they are going to be very unhappy adults. It’s ludicrous to suggest that young Americans, along with the entire African sub-continent just abstain from having sex. The reasonable thing to do would be to provide prophylactics and real education designed to let people decide for themselves based on the facts whether or when they want to have sex.
The Bush Administration may not enjoy a good lay, but almost everyone else does, and the Bushies have to come to terms with that reality if W doesn’t want to leave a legacy of increasing AIDS infection. Though, perhaps they do, since it seems to be their opinion that it serves people right for their decadent lifestyles.]]>