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Classroom Information vs. Reality
You can't believe everything you read in newspapers, hear on TV, or hear in the classroom.
As part of abstinence-only sex education, which the present administration is pouring $170 million into annually, young people are being told many things that are totally untrue, or in the words of one expert is "is a bunch of hooey."
For example, the mandated classroom materials warn that touching another's genitals "can result in pregnancy." It is also flatly states that condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission one-third of the time. (Actually, studies find that, if properly used, condoms are nearly always effective in blocking HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.)
This anti-condom view is straight out of the Religious Right's handbook, and, unfortunately, it's resulting in spreading diseases such as AIDS. This is especially true in third-world countries where the U.S. anti-condom stance is resulting in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of deaths.
The same anti-sex logic is behind the "refusal" laws of twelve states that now allow pharmacists who personally oppose contraception to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) thinks twelve states are not enough and plans to reintroduce his bill from last year to extend "refusal laws" nationwide.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been stalling on a widely-supported decision to make the morning-after pill available nationwide without a prescription. Despite data to the contrary from states such as California, where the pill is more freely available, opponents claim that easy access would encourage promiscuity.
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