HEALTH Critics want Ohio to stop funding for abstinence programs

Debate over sex education continues in Ohio.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Advocates of comprehensive sex education want Ohio to stop funding abstinence-only programs, which urge young people to wait for sex until marriage.
Critics say there is no clear evidence that abstinence programs reduce teen pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases, and have asked the Ohio Department of Health to stop paying for them until there is proof they are worthwhile.
The Bush administration and the state's health department have awarded $32 million in grants to Ohio agencies for abstinence education since 2001, the Plain Dealer reported today.
"None of us think it's a good idea for 13-year-olds to be having sex," said Earl Pike, executive director of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland. "That's not the question. The question is what works to reduce that."
Abstinence education programs aimed at middle- and high-school pupils typically warn that condoms don't always prevent sexually transmitted diseases and that sex outside of marriage may have harmful psychological effects.
"There are lots of programs out there for safer sex and contraceptives," said Cheryl Biddle, executive director of Abstinence the Better Choice in Akron. "We want to balance the scale. I'm always going to stress 'abstinence until marriage' because there is such a dearth of this kind of message out there."
Pike said abstinence education spreads misleading or inaccurate information, blurs religion and science, is sexist and disregards homosexuals. The AIDS Taskforce and 34 other agencies across Ohio are pushing the state health department to reduce funding for abstinence education.
State support
In a letter to Pike, State Health Director Nick Baird said Ohio supports a number of health messages to reduce teen pregnancy and sexual diseases, including abstinence education. Additionally, he noted that Ohio lawmakers mandated in 1999 that schools emphasize abstinence in their sexual disease prevention classes. The Plain Dealer's review of abstinence education in Ohio found that about half the programs receiving money for abstinence-only projects are faith-based or groups strongly against abortion. For example, Ohio Right to Life Foundation chapters received close to $2.2 million, the paper said.
Births among Ohio teenagers have been declining over the past 10 to 15 years, and a pupil survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2001 found adolescents were delaying sexual intercourse or having fewer sexual partners than a decade earlier.
However, instances of sexually transmitted disease were rising. Chlamydia cases rose 41 percent between 1999 and 2004, while gonorrhea rates increased 21 percent during the same time period, according to the Ohio Department of Health. HIV and syphilis have also risen.
A report by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, which researches sexual and reproductive health issues, suggests that more girls are relying on birth control pills and the patch rather than condoms. This could explain why teen pregnancies are down but sexual diseases are up, some experts contend.