Abstaining from Objectivity

In a report that's received heightened attention this week (for all the wrong reasons), the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancies heralded 15 comprehensive sex education programs for their effectiveness in "influencing teen sexual behavior." The study, "Emerging Answers 2007," which claims to have scrutinized 115 programs, appears to be a last-gasp effort to deny federal funding to authentic abstinence education programs--some of which are currently receiving appropriations increases from a Democratically-controlled Congress. Although abstinence programs are growing in implementation, effectiveness, and in rigorous evaluation, the report said it found "no strong evidence" that abstinence programs "persuade teens to stay abstinent." That finding is hardly surprising when you consider the author's obvious conflict of interest. Dr. Douglas Kirby, who penned the report, serves on the staff of the company that produces at least five of the 15 curricula touted in the study.

http://www.frc.org/

As in the days of Noah...