I hate to say this but I found this on Drudge. I kinda hate the fact that this came to me this way, but give credit when it is due. It's 2 days old and I don't see why democrates would not want to use this to complain about Abstinace only education and the ABC programs Bush has.
Sure Abstininace is the best way to ensure that you don't get an STD but lets face it thats not the reality. Another thing that drives me crazy, when is the best time to educate anyone....while they are in school people that leave school without a good education about sex, condoms and STD's may NEVER learn.
More below the fold
Okay here is the link
http://www.ashastd.org/press/SOTN_release.html
"New information about the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) among adolescents reveals that basic public health efforts are being neglected. Today, the American Social Health Association (ASHA) released "State of the Nation 2005: Challenges Facing STD Prevention in Youth." This report highlights the challenges in preventing the spread of STDs among young Americans.
The report asserts that political wrangling over school-based educational programs has overshadowed other key pieces of the prevention puzzle, such as removing barriers to health care for adolescents and ensuring compliance with current medical recommendations for testing and counseling.
It is estimated that 1 out of 2 sexually active youth will contract an STD by age 25, according to a recent report by researchers at the University of North Carolina. The estimated direct medical costs of the 9.1 million new cases of STDs in 2000 among youth 15 to 24 were $6.5 billion.
"We have effective, affordable tools to address this threat to adolescent health but fail to use them," said James R. Allen, MD, MPH, ASHA president and CEO."
Of lets review the facts 50% of people by the age of 25 will crontract an STD....that will cost 6.5 billion a year in direct health costs.
Lets face it by teaching only to those students that chose a path of abstinance and not to those that don't we are endangering the lives of half of the children in the children.
Why is this a program and why is it justified....does it work and are the risks of not teaching condom use and actually discrediting there effectiveness hurt our children?