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Congress Discusses Abstinence Only Programs in Schools

Aired April 23, 2002 - 13:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Millions of dollars are spent to teach teens about abstinence. But is this approach really working? Well, today on Capitol Hill, the issue of abstinence only takes center stage. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now to tell about this.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, in the federal government right now, they spend $50 million on what are called these abstinence only programs, where, well, as you can guess, only abstinence is caught. Contraception is not taught.

Now, some birth control educators think that this is not the way to go. They say you ought to be teaching abstinence along with birth control and using birth control to prevent pregnancy. So let's take a look at these abstinence programs to see what they require.

First of all, they require that the teachers teach that sex outside of marriage has harmful physical and psychological effects. These programs also must teach that abstinence is the only certain way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. They also must teach the failure rates of contraception. In other words, not go over which type of contraception is better than other types of contraception, but talk about the problems of contraception, why it sometimes fails.

Now, the folks who want to get rid of these abstinence only programs certainly have an uphill battle. They are a favorite with many members of Congress. They are also a favorite with President Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When our children face a choice between self restraint and self destruction, government should not be neutral. Government should not sell children short by assuming they are incapable of acting responsibly. We must promote the good choices.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: The people who disagree with President Bush says yes, let's promote the good choices, let's promote abstinence. But considering that by the time a child turns 18, there is a 70-percent chance that he or she has had sex, they say let's also teach birth control for when they do have sex.

PHILLIPS: By what age? By 18?

COHEN: By age 18, 70 percent of all kids have had sex.

PHILLIPS: Oh my gosh. That frightening. You're a mother. I'm sure reading...

COHEN: Oh, yes.

PHILLIPS: Oh my gosh.

COHEN: Yes, I'm glad my children are very young and I don't have to deal with this at the moment.

PHILLIPS: You can be working on them early. All right, virginity pledges, explain this to me?

COHEN: Yes. This became sort of a thing to do in the early to mid-'90s. And what it is is sometimes in big groups, sometimes in small groups and churches, that kids get together and they say, you know what, I pledge to remain a virgin until I get married. You can also go on the Internet and make these pledges. We found several sites where could you do them.

One of them is called True Love Waits. You can see the site here. And then, what you can do is that kids can actually sign up for the pledge. And the pledge says, "I, Jane Doe, and 84,000 other members of my generation seize the Net to make a true love waits pledge to sexual purity." And these have become very, very popular, kids really taking it in their own hands.

PHILLIPS: So, they're taking this seriously.

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: Some of them are taking it seriously, but obviously not all because that statistic speaks a lot, that most kids have had sex by the time they are 18.

PHILLIPS: That's a big number. Wow, what a wake-up call. All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

COHEN: Thank you.

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