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American Morning

U.S. Surgeon General Discusses Report on Youth Sex

Aired June 29, 2001 - 09:20   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Teaching teens about sex. A new report by the surgeon general calls on parents, schools, and community leaders to get more involved. The report recommends a wide-ranging, lifelong approach to sex education.

The report begins by outlining some of the problems. According to the study, 12 million Americans are infected by sexually transmitted diseases each year, including some 40,000 new HIV infections. It also says more than 100,000 children are victimized by sexual abuse each year.

Joining us now, from Washington, to talk about this report some more is Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher.

General, thank you very much for coming in. Good to see you again.

DR. DAVID SATCHER, SURGEON GENERAL: Good morning, Leon, good to see you.

HARRIS: Let's tart off with the report. First of all, I understand it took some two years to put this report together. Why so long?

SATCHER: It's a very important report, and it's a very complex report, and like my other reports, having to do with mental health and suicide prevention, it takes time to do a good job with public health science. We released this report when we thought it was ready to be released.

HARRIS: What's the headline from this? If you had to pick one headline, one element you wished the public would take to heart immediately, what would it be?

SATCHER: There is a public health imperative for us to do a much better job in discussing sex and providing sex education, especially to our young people.

HARRIS: You talk about sex education, and I notice the report says something about discussion of abstinence. It admits that abstinence is the only way to avoid unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. But it also says the abstinence message is not good enough and is not getting through. SATCHER: Not if it's is the only message. I have now, for the last three years, talked about the importance of abstinence as a positive thing, and I believe that we should talk with our young people about why it's so important to try to treat their sexuality in a very special way and to delay sexual activity until they're involved in a committed, enduring, mutually monogamous relationship.

However, we can trust our young people with information about sexuality, and for people who are sexually active, what it takes to optimally protect your self and others against sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy.

That's the message here: that we need a balanced program, and we believe young people can handle that program. All of our science shows that young people are not tempted to increase sexual behavior because they understand sexuality and how optimally to protect themselves.

HARRIS: You say that the science proves that they will not engage in sex more often if they know more about it?

SATCHER: There is no evidence that knowing more about human sexuality increases sexual behavior. In fact, the evidence would suggest just the opposite.

HARRIS: That is one point of the points that many conservative voices in the country have been arguing against.

Another point is the fact that you don't necessarily come out and say that marriage is the way to go for people and they should abstain until marriage.

SATCHER: The report actually supports marriage, but the report also makes it very clear that marriage is not a guarantee against problems: there's bisexuality in marriage, there are people who have gotten infected with AIDS in marriage. We promote marriage, and we believe the family should be supported.

However, the point of this public health report is that we're concerned about mutually monogamous relationships that are enduring, that represent real commitment.

HARRIS: Dr. David Satcher, U.S. surgeon general, we thank you very much for your report and for your time this morning.

SATCHER: Great to be with you, Leon.

HARRIS: Take care. We wish you the best.

SATCHER: Thank you.

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