Opposition Handouts
All public schools that provide sex education to
adolescents, and any program that receives state funds for sex education or
abstinence education, must provide medically and scientifically accurate
information.
- Only when teens
have reliable information about their reproductive health can they make informed
and appropriate decisions.
- Inaccurate information
about sexuality can be dangerous and life-threatening. Fear-based,
abstinence-only and medically inaccurate curricula deny critical and potentially
life-saving information to sexually active teens, and may even lead some
to believe that precautions are futile.
- High pregnancy and
STD rates in the U.S.: Nationally each year, almost 900,000 pregnancies occur
among teens aged 15-19 years old, and more than three-fourths of these
pregnancies are unintended. Annually in the U.S., approximately 4 million
new cues of sexually transmitted diseases (STD's) occur among teenagers.
In 1999 our state ranked
17th in the nation (#1 having the lowest number of teen pregnancies). That year
14,056 Washington women nineteen years of age or younger became pregnant. The
total number of live births in that age group was 8,573.
- Compare with
Europe:
American teens (ages 15-19) have much higher rates of pregnancy, bii1h.
abol1ion, and a variety of STDs than European teens, who have easier
access to sexual health information and services than their
American counterparts:
- Pregnancy rate: over 9 rimes higher than
the Netherlands, nearly 5 times higher than Germany and nearly 4 times higher
than France
- Birth rate: nearly
11 times higher than the Netherlands, nearly 5 times higher than France and
nearly 4 times higher than Germany
- Abortion rate:
nearly 8 times higher than Germany, nearly 7 times higher than the
Netherlands and 3 times higher than France
- Gonorrhea rate:
over 74 times that of the Netherlands and France
- Chlamydia rate:
over 20 times higher than France
- A majority of
parents believe that it is important to stress abstinence to adolescents,
and also to educate them on how to use contraception and practice safe sex. According to the
Kaiser family Foundation (2000), 65% of parents believe that sex education
should encourage young people to delay sexual activity but also prepare
them to use birth control and practice safe sex once they do become
sexually active.
- California. Louisiana
and Missouri have already enacted legislation requiring sexuality education
programs to provide medically accurate information.
INACCURATE INFORMATION
PROVIDED TO TEENS IN
WASHINGTON
STATE SCHOOLS
Ø
Women
can not get pregnant if they are raped
Ø
One
episode of chlamydia will lead 10 pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and infertility
Ø
Condoms
are 50% effective
Ø
Sex
before marriage leads to permanent psychological damage
Ø
30%
of abortions result in pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
Ø
If
you use the pill, you won’t be able to get pregnant after you stop taking it
Ø
HIV
passes freely through condoms
Ø
Abortions
cause infertility
Ø
The
pill causes cancer
Ø
HIV
is only contracted by people who are gay, IV drug users or promiscuous
Ø
Depoprovera
makes women infertile
Ø
There
are super sperm in pre-ejaculatory fluid
Ø
The
average 11th grade male sleeps with 80-90 girls
Back to Fighting the Medical
Accuracy Myth
