Quoted from Hamburg

Senders ---- One orifice that should forever be closed is your foolish mouth.... You make issues out of things that are not at all issues -- that is because like all blatant Right -Wing HATERS -- you LIE.

Quoted from senders

http://www.mtv.com/shows/jersey_shore/season_2/series.jhtml

I'm not so sure parents are stupid or ignorant

a public union just likes to paint parents as ignorant fools....shame shame shame......

lesson #1 after the anatomy class of course

"if you get get pregnant or get someone pregnant, remember this, it's NOT MY CHILD after you're all finished, so choose very very wisely and control yourself. YOU will reap what you sow."

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Planned Parenthood critics often too quick to focus on abortion

    Re Jan. 16 letters, “Planned Parenthood has no place in education” and “What’s really going on with Shen sex ed dispute?”: I am a registered nurse who has worked with Planned Parenthood and would like to enlighten readers to the real workings of the agency.
    Planned Parenthood provides quality health care and education to low-income women who would not otherwise be able to afford it. Planned Parenthood monitors weight, blood pressure and hemoglobin; does breast examinations, Pap smears and testing for sexually transmitted diseases; and provides contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies, which might result in the need for abortion. This includes providing condoms for the male partner who is responsible for a pregnancy. Women do not get pregnant by themselves, it is a shared responsibility. Abortion referral is only one of the services provided; prevention services are the focus.
    Education about human reproduction is essential to counter rumor and false information. This highly sexualized culture we live in often shows sex as casual fun while, in reality, it is a serious relational act of procreation and mature love.
    When young people engage in sex at an early age, they also leave themselves open to sexually transmitted diseases, oral and otherwise. The greater number of sex partners a person has, the greater their risk of various cancers. Gardisil can protect from a few, but there are many more rampant in every community which cause health problems and perhaps future sterility.
    Knowing the facts about reproduction does not lead young people to enter into sexual activity but prepares them to respect their bodies and those of others, and to enter into an eventual relationship with confidence rather than fear or victimization.
    I am tired of hearing Planned Parenthood blamed for evils they don’t do, rather than recognized for the good that they do.
    DOROTHY MAGEE
    Gloversville

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It was the goal of this study to evaluate the current sex-education approach in the U.S., and to identify the most effective educational approach to reduce the high U.S. teen pregnancy rates. Based on a national analysis of all available state data, our results clearly show that abstinence-only education does not reduce and likely increases teen pregnancy rates. Comprehensive sex and/or STD education that includes abstinence as a desired behavior was correlated with the lowest teen pregnancy rates across states. In alignment with the Precaution Adoption Process Model advocated by the National Institutes of Health we suggest that comprehensive sex and HIV/STD education should be taught as part of the biology curriculum in middle and high school science classes, along with a social studies curriculum that addresses risk-aversion behaviors and planning for the future.

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The level of abstinence education was positively correlated with both teen pregnancy and teen birth indicating that abstinence education in the U.S. does not cause abstinence behavior. To the contrary, teens in states that prescribe more abstinence education are actually more likely to become pregnant.  

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After accounting for other factors, the national data show that the incidence of teenage pregnancies and births remain positively correlated with the degree of abstinence education across states: The more strongly abstinence is emphasized in state laws and policies, the higher the average teenage pregnancy and birth rate. States that taught comprehensive sex and/or HIV education and covered abstinence along with contraception and condom use (level 1 sex education; also referred to as “abstinence-plus” [26], tended to have the lowest teen pregnancy rates, while states with abstinence-only sex education laws that stress abstinence until marriage (level 3) were significantly less successful in preventing teen pregnancies.

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Only three of the level 0 states (IA, NH and NV) mandated both sex education and HIV education, but one of them (NV) did not require that teens learn about condoms and contraception. This state (NV) has the highest teen pregnancy and birth rates in that group (Figure 1). Nevada is also one of only five states (with MD in level 0, CO in level 2, and AZ and UT in level 3) that required parental consent for sex education in public schools instead of an opt-out requirement that is present in all the other states

Individual research studies also show that teaching about contraception is generally not associated with increased risk of adolescent sexual activity or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) [8] as suggested by abstinence-only advocates, and adolescents who received comprehensive sex or HIV education had a lower risk of pregnancy and HIV/STD infection than adolescents who received strict abstinence-only or no sex education at all in the U.S. and in other high-income countries

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Approximately 82% of a randomly selected nationally representative sample of U.S. adults aged 18 to 83 years (N = 1096) supported comprehensive programs that teach students about both abstinence and other methods of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. In contrast, abstinence-only education programs, received the lowest levels of support (36%) and the highest level of opposition (about 50%).

In addition to the federal and state funds spent on abstinence-only (level 3) education, there are other costs associated with the outcomes of failed sex education and family planning. When deciding state policies on sex education, State legislators should consider these additional costs. For example, based on estimates by the National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy [33], teen child bearing (compared to first birth at 20 years or older) in the U.S. cost taxpayers (in direct and indirect costs) more than $9.1 billion in 2004.

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As pointed out by the Society for Adolescent Medicine, the abstinence-only approach (as stressed by level 3 state laws and policies and funded by the federal abstinence-only programs) is characterized by the withholding of information and is ethically flawed [7]. Abstinence-only programs tend to promote abstinence behavior through emotion, such as romantic notions of marriage, moralizing, fear of STDs, and by spreading scientifically incorrect information [7], [20], [35]. For example a Congressional committee report found evidence of major errors and distortions of public health information in common abstinence-only curricula [36]. As a result, these programs may actually be promoting irresponsible, high-risk teenage behavior by keeping teens uneducated with regard to reproductive knowledge and sound decision-making instead of giving them the tools to make educated decisions regarding their reproductive health [37]. The effect of presenting inadequate or incorrect information to teenagers regarding sex and pregnancy and STD protection is long-lasting as uneducated teens grow into uneducated adults: almost half of all pregnancies in the U.S. were unplanned in 2001 [38]. Of these three million unplanned pregnancies, ~1.4 million resulted in live births, ~1.3 million ended in abortion, and over 400,000 ended in a miscarriage [36], [37] at a financial cost (direct medical costs only) of ~$5 billion in 2002 [39].

The U.S. teen pregnancy rate is substantially higher than seen in other developed countries (Table 1) despite similar cultural and socioeconomic patterns in teen pregnancy rates [40]. The difference is not due to the onset of sexual activity [1]. Instead, the main factor seems to be sex education, especially with regard to contraception and prevention of STDs [41]. Sex education in Europe is based on the WHO definition of sexuality as a lifelong process, aiming to create self-determined and responsible attitudes and behavior with regard to sexuality, contraception, relationships and life strategies and planning [42]. In general, there is greater and easier access to sexual health information and services for all people (including teens) in Europe, which is facilitated by a societal openness and comfort in dealing with sexuality [40], by pragmatic governmental policies [43], [44] and less influence by special interest groups.

Future Directions
While states with comprehensive sex education have lower teen pregnancy rates, even in these states rates are much higher than seen in Europe [1]. This is likely influenced by the fact that U.S. state laws and policies generally do not require that sex and STD education is taught in all schools, but only provide guidelines if local school boards decide to teach it [19]. For example, as of August 1, 2011, only 20 states mandated sex education, and 32 states mandated HIV education in their schools [45]. In addition, even states with comprehensive sex education laws or policies (level 1) received federal funding for individual abstinence-only education programs in 2005: total federal funds [19] averaged ~$14 per teen in level 1 states compared to ~$21 per teen in level 2 and 3 states [12]. An important first step towards lowering the high teen pregnancy rates would be states requiring that comprehensive sex education (with abstinence as a desired behavior) is taught in all public schools. Another important step would involve specialized teacher training. Presently the sex education and STD/HIV curricula are often taught by faculty with little training in this area [46]. As a further modification, “sex education” could be split into a coordinated social studies component (ethics, behavior and decision-making, including planning for the future) and a science component (human reproductive biology and biology of STDs, including pregnancy and STD prevention), each taught by trained teachers in their respective field.

As parents, educators or policy makers it should be our goals that (1) teens can make educated reproductive and sexual health decisions, that (2) teen pregnancy and STD rates are reduced to the rates of other developed nations, and that (3) these trends are maintained through the teenage years into adulthood. One possibility for achieving these goals is a close alignment and integration of sex education with the National Science Standards for U.S. middle and high schools [47]. In addition, the Precaution Adoption Process Model (Figure 5) advocated by the National Institutes of Health [48] offers a good basis for communication and discussions between scientists, educators, and sex education researchers, and could serve as a reference for measuring progress in sex education (in alignment with the new evidence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative). In addition, it could be used as a communication tool between sex education teachers and their students. It should be our specific goal to move American teens from Stages 1 or 2 (unaware or unengaged in the issues of pregnancy and STD prevention) to Stages 3–7 (informed decision-making) by providing them with knowledge, understanding, and sound decision-making skills (Figure 5). For example, a recent study [49] attributes 52% of all unintended pregnancies (teenagers and adults) in the U.S. to non-use of contraception, 43% to inconsistent or incorrect use, and only 5% to method failure.

Our analysis adds to the overwhelming evidence indicating that abstinence-only education does not reduce teen pregnancy rates. Advocates for continued abstinence-only education need to ask themselves: If teens don't learn about human reproduction, including safe sexual health practices to prevent unintended pregnancies and STDs, and how to plan their reproductive adult life in school, then when should they learn it, and from whom?

Quoted from Box A Rox

Abstinence Only Government programs simply do not work. Period.

Quoted from Box A Rox

Quoted from CICERO

The obsession with the sexual behavior of teenagers that are not YOUR CHILDREN is actually a little disturbing.  What is even more disturbing is Box and Bob using Bristol Palin as an example of failed public sex education policy (Abstinence Only) instead of a failure of parenting.  

I think their implication is -  'if only the State was able to get to Bristol this all could have been prevented.'  Statists are real sicko’s.  My advice, keep the state away from your children.

Quoted from CICERO

The obsession with the sexual behavior of teenagers that are not YOUR CHILDREN is actually a little disturbing.  What is even more disturbing is Box and Bob using Bristol Palin as an example of failed public sex education policy (Abstinence Only) instead of a failure of parenting.  

I think their implication is -  'if only the State was able to get to Bristol this all could have been prevented.'  Statists are real sicko’s.  My advice, keep the state away from your children.