ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH

Teens Need Information, Not Censorship

Remarks by James Wagoner, President, Advocates for Youth
National Coalition Against Censorship Press Event
Tuesday, June 12, 2001

Every hour of every day, two American young people contract HIV, 96 become pregnant, and nearly 350 more contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD). This means that by the end of today, almost 50 young Americans contract HIV, almost 2500 will have become pregnant, and nearly 8500 more will contract a sexually transmitted disease.

These aren't just numbers. These are our sons and daughters whose health and well-being are jeopardized when politicians push simplistic solutions to complex problems. And the prevention of teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted disease is a complex issue.

But the research is clear on one point. Sexuality education is not an either/or proposition. Irrespective of those who see this issue as a polarized debate, the reality is young people need and deserve information about abstinence and contraception.

That's the comprehensive approach - an approach supported by the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Nurses Association (ANA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and more than 100 other medical and professional organizations.

So why has Congress continued to fund abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that prohibit medically accurate information about contraception and condoms for the effective prevention of pregnancy and disease? Why do policy makers continue to ignore the science?

They claim the programs work. Yet, the Institute of Medicine, the nation's leading scientific body, has stated:

"The Committee believes that investing hundreds of millions of dollars of federal and state funds over five years in abstinence-only programs with no evidence of effectiveness constitutes poor fiscal and public health policy… Congress, as well as other federal, state and local policy makers, [should] eliminate requirements that public funds be used for abstinence-only education" (The Institute of Medicine, October 2000).

They claim that talking to young people about abstinence and contraception sends mixed messages. Yet, the Institute of Medicine again:

"[E]xpert panels that have studied this issue, have concluded that comprehensive sex and HIV/AIDS education programs and condom availability programs can be effective in reducing high-risk sexual behaviors among adolescents. In addition, these reviews and expert panels conclude that school-based sex education and condom availability programs do not increase sexual activity among adolescents." (The Institute of Medicine, October 2000).

The American public knows what works. Parents gets it. According to recent polling from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, parents and teens reject the notion that talking about abstinence and contraception sends a mixed message.

But this debate, unfortunately, isn't about the research. It isn't about what really works to protect our young people's health, it isn't about what parents want and teens need.

It's about censorship. It's about ideology. It's about using our young people as political fodder in the nation's culture wars.

The U.S. has the highest teen pregnancy and STD rates in the industrialized world. We have nearly seven times the teen pregnancy rate of the Netherlands, seventy-four times the adolescent gonorrhea rate of France, eight times the teen abortion rate of Germany, and young people in these countries commence sexual intercourse later than U.S. teens!

In these countries sexuality is a public health issue driven by research. In the U.S., sexuality is a political issue driven by controversy.

We believe there is a better way. Instead of fear, denial, and blame, let's try rights, respect, and responsibility.

Young people have a right to accurate and complete information that could protect their health and even save their lives.

Young people deserve respect. Too often they are viewed solely as part of the problem when we should include them as part of the solution. We need to involve more young people as peer educators, pay more attention to what they tell us about the reality of their world.

Finally, young people have an obligation to act responsibly, to make safe and sound decisions about sexuality. Parents have the responsibility to talk to their young people early and often about sexuality and character, about sexuality and health, and about sexuality and their own family values.

Give young people the tools and, more and more, they will make safe and responsible decisions. Deprive them of critical information, and go the route of fear and denial, and we'll continue our dubious track record as the least successful nation in the Western industrialized world in dealing with teens and sexuality.