A Lethal Mix of Abstinence and Contraceptive Education
 
ABSTINENCE EDUCATION : WASHINGTON BOARD OF EDUCATION ANNOUNCES NEW HEALTH EDUCATION GUIDELINES
POSTED: JAN 19, 2005

[Jessemyn Pekari, Abstinence Clearinghouse E-Mail Update, 01/19/05]

The state of Washington’s education department has announced a new set of voluntary guidelines for health education in its public schools.

While the guidelines state that all education should include that abstinence from sexual activity is the only sure way of avoiding pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, it also encourages schools to teach about contraception, a combination that has proven a miserable failure throughout the United States.

The recommendations were compiled by the state Health Department and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, but Jeff Kemp at Families Northwest in Bellevue does not believe that the guidelines are good enough.

"One word is glaringly absent and that word is 'marriage,' " said Kemp, a former Seattle Seahawk quarterback whose group supports "strong, relationship-based abstinence programs that speak to the importance and role of marriage.”

"It's shortsighted to talk so much about sex without marriage being front and center," Kemp said. "Sex certainly isn't just about biological function."

Kemp isn’t the only one upset with the state’s new guidelines. LeAnna Benn, National Director for Teen-Aid, Inc., questions the state’s move.

“The Guidelines for Sexual Health Information and Disease Prevention is vague, evoking more questions than answers while ignoring the possibility of local parental input,” said Benn. “Are guidelines suggestions? Where is the Washington state culturally sensitive research based on community values? Which individuals drafted or reviewed it? Who were the expert/representatives from the marriage and abstinence community? What are the procedural processes for modification and implementation? What is to be taught at what grade level? What is the budget for local schools?”

Benn continued, “No evaluation of local programming was used to determine these guidelines, no information on complete abstinence until marriage programs is mentioned, no local student needs assessments are recommended, no course correction measures or philosophical frameworks are identified and no dates of implementation or consequences for not implementing are stated. These vagaries should cause a pregnant pause from all administrators.”

The legislation is backed by a coalition of 40 organizations, including Planned Parenthood, the Washington Association of School Principals, the School Nurses Association and the Washington Education Association.