October 10, 2002
Pageant permits promotion of chastity
                       By George Archibald
                      THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20021010-10838180.htm

     Miss America 2003, Erika Harold, announced in Illinois yesterday
that she has won her battle with pageant officials over the right to
talk about teen sexual chastity.
     Saying that The Washington Times "brought this controversy to the
forefront"  in  an  article  yesterday,  the  22-year-old  former Miss
Illinois  told reporters in suburban Chicago that she is now permitted
to   talk   about   sexual-abstinence   education   as   part  of  her
youth-violence prevention platform.
     Miss America Chief Executive George Bauer removed the restriction
after intense discussions during a trip to Washington, she said.
     "I  don't think the pageant organizers really understood how much
I  am  identified  with  the  abstinence  message,"  Miss  Harold told
reporters at a ceremony in Oak Brook Terrace to crown her successor as
Miss Illinois.
     "If  I  don't  speak  about  it  now  as  Miss America, I will be
disappointing  the  thousands  of young people throughout Illinois who
need  assurance that waiting until marriage for sex is the right thing
to do," she said.
     Mr.  Bauer,  who  accompanied  Miss Harold this week on her first
visit  to Washington since her crowning Sept. 21, has issued no formal
statement.  Miss  Harold  said  he  would  issue  a statement publicly
affirming  her  freedom  to espouse her views on chastity "in the next
few days."
     Mr.  Bauer  has  not  responded to several inquiries by The Times
about reports first made by the IllinoisLeader.com, an online journal,
that the new Miss America was being muzzled.
     "It  was silly," Dan Proft, president of the online journal, said
yesterday  about  the controversy. Sexual chastity for unmarried girls
"is a great message to send from Miss America."
     "What is more fundamental than freedom of expression?" he asked.
     Miss   Harold   could  not  be  reached  for  comment  after  her
midafternoon press conference in Illinois.
     But  she  told reporters there she became upset during a National
Press Club function in Washington on Tuesday because pageant officials
told her not to talk about sexual abstinence.
     Questioning by The Times on Tuesday about reasons for her silence
on  the  issue,  for  which  she  has  campaigned at schools and youth
appearances  for  several  years,  prompted her to reveal that she was
being muzzled.
     "Quite  frankly,  and  I'm  not  going  to be specific, there are
pressures from some sides to not promote [abstinence]," she said.
     Sanford  A.  Newman,  president  of  a  group called Fight Crime:
Invest   in  Kids,  which  sponsored  Tuesday's  National  Press  Club
appearance, stepped in to stop questions, saying he thought a reporter
was  "bullying"  Miss  Harold to determine who was responsible for her
silence on teen chastity.
     Several close acquaintances of Miss Harold had said she wanted to
discuss the issue and was "furious" that she was told not to do so.
     "You won't be bullied, right?" The Times asked her.
     "I  will not be bullied. I've gone through enough adversity in my
life to stand up for what I believe in," she said.
     In Washington on Tuesday, Miss Harold told The Times she believes
teen  sexual  permissiveness  is  intertwined with youth violence. She
said  this  is the reason she feels compelled to talk about abstinence
as one remedy for violence.
     "I  definitely  think  that  when  a  young person engages in one
destructive  behavior  it makes it much more likely that you engage in
other  destructive  behaviors,  so  I  think that if a young person is
engaged  in  a  promiscuous lifestyle it makes them more vulnerable to
other risk factors. So I definitely see the tie-in there," she said.
     Miss  Harold  said  she  was  subjected  to "pervasive racial and
sexual  harassment"  by  other  students in high school because of her
black  and  American  Indian  ancestry  and  her refusal to succumb to
sexual advances.
     Students  threatened to kill her, and the principal told her, "If
you'd  only  be  more  submissive  like the other girls, this wouldn't
happen to you," she said.
     Conservative  religious  groups  reacted yesterday with anger and
outrage at Miss Harold's silencing.
     Sandy  Rios, the president of Concerned Women for America, called
the  pageant's initial actions "bullying" and "blatant censorship that
betrays religious bigotry among pageant officials."
     "They are attacking Erika Harold's values.
     "In  an  age  when  beauty  queens are regularly disqualified for
inappropriate  behavior,  who  would  have thought that a virtuous one
would be silenced for her virtue?" Mrs. Rios asked.
     Genevieve  Wood,  vice president of communications for the Family
Research Council, detected a double standard in contestant platforms.
     "If Miss Harold's platform was about the hazards of smoking, most
likely  there  wouldn't  be  any  protest. It's a tragedy that the one
message that will help save people's lives and protect their emotional
and physical health is being censored," she said.
     Pageant  officials  had  let  another former Miss America, 1998's
Kate  Shindle,  talk about an AIDS prevention platform. In addition to
abstinence,  though,  Miss  Shindle  advocated  publicly funded condom
distribution  in public schools and government-funded needle exchanges
for drug users.
     Dr.   John   Whiffen,  the  medical  director  for  the  National
Physicians  Center  for  Family Resources, said Miss Harold "should be
commended  for  promoting  a  message  of  health  to adolescents, not
silenced."
 

___________________________________________________________________
 

                        October 9, 2002
Miss America silenced
                       By George Archibald
                      THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20021009-84617092.htm

     Miss America 2003, Erika Harold, yesterday said pageant officials
have ordered her not to talk publicly about sexual abstinence, a cause
she has advocated to teenage girls in Illinois.
     "Quite  frankly,  and  I'm  not  going  to be specific, there are
pressures   from   some   sides  to  not  promote  [abstinence],"  the
22-year-old woman from Urbana, Ill., told The Washington Times.
     In  her  first  visit to Washington since winning the crown Sept.
21,  Miss Harold resisted efforts by Miss America officials to silence
her pro-chastity opinions.
     "I  will  not  be  bullied,"  Miss  Harold  said yesterday at the
National  Press  Club,  as  officials  tried to prevent reporters from
asking questions about her abstinence message.
     Miss  Harold,  a  Phi  Beta  Kappa  graduate of the University of
Illinois,   was   "furious"  as  she  arrived  for  yesterday's  press
conference, an acquaintance said.
     George Bauer, interim chief executive officer of the Miss America
organization,  and other pageant officials had sternly directed her to
talk  only  about  the  issue  of youth-violence prevention and to say
nothing  about sexual abstinence, said Miss Harold's acquaintance, who
asked not to be named.
     "They  laid  it  on  her  coming  over  here" not to promote teen
chastity,  the  acquaintance  said  before the press conference began.
"She's furious about it."
     Mr.  Bauer  did  not  respond to inquiries made yesterday through
Miss America corporate headquarters in Atlantic City, N.J. The pageant
has traditionally been skittish about sexual subjects, and at one time
forbade  Miss  America and even contestants to be alone in a room with
any man, even fathers and brothers, without a chaperone.
     Miss  Harold  has advocated premarital chastity through the years
as  she  traveled  about  Illinois  on  behalf  of  Project Reality, a
Chicago-based  nonprofit  that  has  been  a  pioneer  in the field of
abstinence  education.  By the time she won the Miss Illinois crown in
June, Miss Harold had presented that message to more than 14,000 young
people.
     Since  1990,  Miss  America  and  affiliated  state pageants have
required  contestants  to  adopt  an  official  "platform" issue. Miss
Harold  won  the  Miss  Illinois contest with her platform of "Teenage
Sexual  Abstinence:  Respect  Yourself,  Protect  Yourself." But state
pageant  officials  instead selected "teen violence prevention" as her
Miss America contest platform because they deemed it more "pertinent,"
her father told an Illinois newspaper.
     Yesterday,  Miss  Harold  said,  she  is "still in the process of
coming  up  with  what  it  is  that  I  can say," in interweaving her
pro-chastity views with her official platform.
     After  winning  the  Miss America crown, Miss Harold said a young
girl  from  an inner-city Chicago school sent her an e-mail asking her
to  continue  the abstinence campaign. "She said, 'You changed my life
because  of what you said, and now I made the decision to be abstinent
because  of  what you said. And I really hope that as Miss America you
continue  to  share that because it changed my life and I think it can
change lots of others.'"
     Said  Miss Harold: "And I would hate to think that there are kids
all  over  the country who now wonder, you know, 'Did I make the right
decision  in making that commitment, if this person who inspired me to
do  it  no  longer is willing to share that commitment on the national
stage?' And so I would feel a hypocrite if I did not."
     A  number of groups, including the World Health Organization, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Anti-Defamation League
and  the  National  Center  for  Victims of Crime, have supported Miss
Harold's anti-violence platform.
     Immediately  following  the  Sept.  21  Miss  America  pageant in
Atlantic  City, Miss Harold was escorted to New York City for meetings
with  leaders  of  social and political advocacy groups, including the
Anti-Defamation League.
     "I  collaborate  with  groups  to work on certain issues" such as
curbing  youth  violence,  she  said,  "but  I  rarely endorse a group
because,  when  you  [do],  you  are saddled with everything that they
believe in, and if you don't support aspects of what they support then
that  puts  you  in  a  very  difficult position to have to answer for
things that you don't necessarily subscribe to."
     Miss  Harold  said abstinence education is an important component
of  youth-violence  prevention because violence is directly related to
sexual permissiveness and promiscuity. "I think that if a young person
is  engaged  in  a  promiscuous lifestyle, it makes them vulnerable to
other risk factors, so I definitely see a tie-in there," she said.
     "Many  victims  of  sexual  harassment believe what is said about
them,  and  they become very promiscuous. When they're called a whore,
when  they're  called  a slut, they think, 'That's what I want to be,'
and  so  they engage in a pattern of self-destruction that can be very
detrimental to their lives.
     "And  when  I  went  through that experience, I took the opposite
approach,  and said I'm going to believe in who I am. I'm not going to
be  defined  by  what other people think about me. And so I felt very,
very  fortunate  that  I  had  parents,  I  had  a faith community who
reinforced this decision, and I was able to speak about this. I didn't
take   the  route  of  becoming  promiscuous;  I  took  the  route  of
reaffirming what I believed was right and stood for it. And I was very
fortunate  to  be  able  to  speak  to thousands of young people about
this."
     The new Miss America had meetings yesterday with Attorney General
John  Ashcroft  and  Surgeon General Richard Carmona. Today, she meets
with  Education  Secretary  Rod  Paige  and  Deputy  Secretary William
Hansen.
     At  the  press  conference, Miss Harold detailed bullying she and
her  family suffered because of her interracial heritage, when she was
a  ninth-grader  eight  years  ago in Urbana, Ill. She is of black and
American Indian ancestry.
     Yesterday's  press  conference  was  sponsored  by  "Fight Crime:
Invest  in  Kids,"  a Washington-based group of more than 1,500 police
chiefs,  sheriffs and about 200 victims of violence, which Miss Harold
has joined as national spokeswoman.
     She talked about the violence she and her family experienced.
     In  the  middle  of  the  night,  she said, someone once hurled a
carton  of eggs through her bedroom window and smeared the window with
butter   and  cheese.  "Another  time,  the  power  in  my  house  was
short-circuited  by the bullies. And so my entire family was forced to
live  under  siege  because  we  had no notice when these attacks were
going to come."
     In  her  math class at school, she said a teacher watched and did
nothing as a student sang "a horribly degrading song with words that I
am not going to repeat today," she said. "The students retaliated in a
very  frightening  way" and discussed plans "to pool their lunch money
together  to  buy  a  rifle  to  kill  me. And when I went to tell the
principal  this,  his  only  remark  to me was, 'If you'd only be more
submissive like the other girls, this wouldn't happen to you.'"
 
 

______________________________________________________________________________________

The Alan Guttmacher Institute
Sexuality Education
 

Sex and Pregnancy Among Teenagers

• By their 18th birthday, 6 in 10 teenage women and nearly 7 in 10 teenage men have had sexual intercourse. 1

• A sexually active teenager who does not use contraception has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year. 2

• Of the approximately 950,000 teenage pregnancies that occur each year, more than 3 in 4 are unintended. Over 1/4 of these pregnancies end in abortion. 3

• The pregnancy rate among U.S. women aged 15-19 has declined steadily--from 117 pregnancies per 1,000 women in 1990 to 93 per 1,000 women in 1997. Analysis of the teenage pregnancy rate decline between 1988 and 1995 found that approximately 1/4 of the decline was due to delayed onset of sexual intercourse among teenagers, while 3/4 was due to the increased use of highly effective and long-acting contraceptive methods among sexually experienced teenagers. 4

• Despite the decline, the United States continues to have one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the developed world--twice as high as those in England, Wales or Canada and nine times as high as rates in the Netherlands and Japan. 5

• Every year, roughly 4 million new sexually transmitted disease (STD) infections occur among teenagers in the United States. Compared with rates among teens in other developed countries, rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia among U.S. teenagers are extremely high. 6

• Though teenagers in the United States have levels of sexual activity similar to their Canadian, English, French and Swedish peers, they are more likely to have shorter and more sporadic sexual relationships and less likely to use contraception. 7

Local Sexuality Education Policy

• More than 2 out of 3 public school districts have a policy to teach sexuality education. The remaining 33% of districts leave policy decisions up to individual schools or teachers. 8

• 86% of the public school districts that have a policy to teach sexuality education require that abstinence be promoted. 35% require abstinence to be taught as the only option for unmarried people and either prohibit the discussion of contraception altogether or limit discussion to its ineffectiveness. The other 51% have a policy to teach abstinence as the preferred option for teens and permit discussion of contraception as an effective means of preventing pregnancy and STDs. 9

• Only 14% of public school districts with a policy to teach sexuality education address abstinence as one option in a broader educational program to prepare adolescents to become sexually healthy adults. 10

• Over 1/2 of the districts in the South with a policy to teach sexuality education have an abstinence-only policy, compared with 20% of such districts in the Northeast. 11

Sex Education Policies

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most school districts promote abstinence
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Landry DJ, Kaeser L, and Richards CL, Abstinence promotion and the provision of information about contraception in public school district sexuality education polices. Family Planning Perspectives, 1999, 31(6):280-286.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

• While most states require schools to teach sexuality education, STD education or both, many also give local policymakers wide latitude in crafting their own policies. The latest information on state-level policies is available at www.guttmacher.org/pubs/spib_SSEP.pdf.

Sexuality Education in the Classroom

• Sexuality education teachers are more likely to focus on abstinence and less likely to provide students with information on birth control, how to obtain contraceptive services, sexual orientation and abortion than they were 15 years ago. 12

• The proportion of sexuality education teachers who taught abstinence as the only way to prevent pregnancy and STDs increased from 1 in 50 in 1988 to 1 in 4 in 1999. 13

• The overwhelming majority of sexuality education teachers believe that by the end of the 7th grade, students should have been taught about puberty, how HIV is transmitted, STDs, how to resist peer pressure to have sex, implications of teenage parenthood, abstinence from intercourse, dating, sexual abuse and nonsexual ways to show affection. 14

• The majority of teachers believe that topics such as birth control methods and how to obtain them, the correct way to use a condom, sexual orientation, and factual and ethical information about abortion should also be taught by the end of the 12th grade. These topics are currently being taught less often and later than teachers think they should be. 1

• More than 9 in 10 teachers believe that students should be taught about contraception, but 1 in 4 are prohibited from doing so. 16

• 1 in 5 teachers believe that restrictions imposed on sexuality education are preventing them from meeting their students¹ needs. 17

Thinking vs. Doing

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a large gap between what teachers think should be taught and what they teach when it comes to birth control, abortion and sexual orientation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Darroch JE, Landry DJ, Singh S, Changing emphasis in sexuality education in U.S. public secondary schools, 1988-99, Family Planning Perspectives, 2000, 32(5):204-211 & 265.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

• The majority of Americans favor more comprehensive sexuality education over abstinence-only education. 18

• At least 3/4 of parents say that in addition to abstinence, sexuality education should cover how to use condoms and other forms of birth control, abortion, sexual orientation, pressures to have sex and the emotional consequences of having sex. 19

• At least 40% of students report that topics such as STDs and HIV, birth control, how to use and where to obtain birth control, and how to handle pressure to have sex either were not covered in their most recent sexuality education course or were not covered sufficiently. 20

Government Support of Abstinence-Only Education

• There are currently 3 federal programs dedicated to funding restrictive abstinence-only education--Section 510 of the Social Security Act, the Adolescent Family Life Act¹s teenage pregnancy prevention component, and the Special Projects of Regional and National Significance program (SPRANS)--with total annual funding of $102 million for FY 2002. 21

• Federal law establishes a stringent 8-point definition of "abstinence-only education" that requires programs to teach that sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong and harmful--for people of any age--and prohibits them from advocating contraceptive use or discussing contraceptive methods except to emphasize their failure rates. 22

• There is currently no federal program dedicated to supporting comprehensive sexuality education that teaches young people about both abstinence and contraception. 23

• Despite years of evaluation in this area, there is no evidence to date that abstinence-only education delays teenage sexual activity. Moreover, recent research shows that abstinence-only strategies may deter contraceptive use among sexually active teenagers, increasing their risk of unintended pregnancy and STDs. 24

• Evidence shows that comprehensive sexuality education programs that provide information about both abstinence and contraception can help delay the onset of sexual activity in teenagers, reduce their number of sexual partners and increase contraceptive use when they become sexually active. These findings were underscored in Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior, issued by former Surgeon General David Satcher in June 2001. 25

Sources

1. The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), In Their Own Right: Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of American Men, New York, AGI, 2002; AGI, unpublished tabulations of the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males; and AGI, unpublished tabulations of the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth.

2. AGI, Sex and America¹s Teenagers, New York, AGI, 1994

3. Henshaw SK, Unintended pregnancy in the United States, Family Planning Perspectives, 1998, 30(1):24­29 & 46.

4. AGI, Why is Teenage Pregnancy Declining? The Roles of Abstinence, Sexual Activity and Contraceptive Use, New York, AGI, 1999.

5. AGI, Teenage Sexual and Reproductive Behavior in Developed Countries: Can More Progress Be Made?, New York, AGI, 2001.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. Landry DJ et al, Abstinence promotion and the provision of information about contraception in public school district sexuality education policies, Family Planning Perspectives, 1999, 31(6):280-286.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Darroch JE et al, Changing emphases in sexuality education in U.S. public secondary schools, 1988-1999, Family Planning Perspectives, 2000, 32(5):204-211 & 265.

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid.

18. Kaiser Family Foundation, Sex Education in America: A View from Inside the Nation¹s Classrooms, Menlo Park, CA, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2000

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid.

21. Dailard C, Abstinence promotion and teen family planning: the misguided drive for equal funding, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 2002, 5(1):1-3.

22. Dailard C, Abstinence promotion and teen family planning: the misguided drive for equal funding, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 2002, 5(1):1-3; and Dailard C, Fueled by campaign promises, drive intensifies to boost abstinence-only education funds, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 2000, 3(2):1-2 & 12.

23. Dailard C, Abstinence promotion and teen family planning: the misguided drive for equal funding, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 2002, 5(1):1-3; and Dailard C, Sex Education: Politicians, Parents, Teachers and Teens, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 2001, 4(1):9-12.

24. Kirby D, Emerging Answers: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy, Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2001.

25. Dailard C, Abstinence promotion and teen family planning: the misguided drive for equal funding, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 2002, 5(1):1-3; and Kirby D, Emerging Answers: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy, Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2001.
 

************
 

An Rx For Teen Sex
Doctors are joining the abstinence movement. Here's why they're now telling kids, "Just say no"
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,356035,00.html

Time Magazine

Thursday, October 3, 2002
 

BY JODIE MORSE

PENNY DE LOS SANTOS FOR TIME Eighth graders take part in an exercise during a Worth the Wait sex ed class

Sunday, Sep. 29, 2002

The  slide show was chilling: a cervix with precancerous lesions, shriveled fallopian tubes. But what made Seth Claude and his friends really blanch was a penis covered in sores  and distended like an autumn gourd. "Before, I just thought if you got genital warts,  maybe  you had one or two, but then I saw the person with a bajillion of them and  was,  like,  'Whoa,'" says Seth, 13. "(The pictures) are enough to make you have nightmares."

But  will  they  keep  him from having sex? The images form the backbone of Worth the Wait,  a  sex-education curriculum taught at Seth's school, Caldwell Middle School in Caldwell, Texas, and in 31 districts across the state. Written by Dr. Patricia Sulak, an  obstetrician-gynecologist  and  professor  at  Texas  A&M University's College of Medicine, the lessons set forth the clinical consequences of teen sex in pictures and eye-popping  statistics  charting  the numbers of young people infected with sexually transmitted diseases. The take-home message: abstain from intercourse or put yourself at grave medical risk.

A  bitter  battle  over sex ed has long raged in this country--and with each year the foes  have  become  more  deeply  set  in  their  stances.  On one side are religious conservatives  arguing  that  sex  outside  of  wedlock  is unholy. They have secured millions  of  federal dollars for abstinence programs that teach about the hazards of contraceptives. The other camp, backed by virtually every major medical organization, contends it is irresponsible to deny kids information about condoms. Now, as Congress is  weighing  President  Bush's  proposal  to boost abstinence funding by 33% to $135 million, those allegiances are shifting. A small but vocal cohort of doctors has gone to  the  abstention  side.  "I used to think all we had to do was dump condoms in the schools  and be done with it," says Sulak. "But after reviewing the data, I've had to do a 180 on kids and sex."

The  turnabout  is  proving  contagious. Sulak has sold her slide kits to health-care workers  in  44  states.  More significant, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which has long been on the other bank of the sex-ed divide, will honor her  with  a  presidential  award  next  spring.  Meanwhile, a group of more than 400 doctors   collaborated   on  an  abstinence  cd-rom,  Prescriptions  for  Parents:  A Physicians'  Guide  to  Adolescence  and  Sex,  released  last  month by the National Physicians Center for Family Resources. "Parents and children want medical facts, not a one-sided moralist approach," says Dianna Lightfoot, the center's president.

Sex in the Classroom

A half-hour news special airing on MTV Oct. 3 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT). The program hits the streets to find out how communities nationwide teach teens about sex -- and how kids feel about it. ________________________________________________________________________________

Go to MTV.com to see full results of the TIME/MTV Poll on Sex Education and Teen Sexuality.

Abstinence  educators  also  want to put the medical story on the table. From 1999 to 2001,  the  Medical  Institute  for  Sexual  Health  in  Austin, Texas, which markets materials  to  abstinence  instructors, saw a 150% increase in sales of its products. Even  the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc), whose education programs encouraged  condom  use,  has  been quietly recasting its position on abstinence. The agency pulled from its website this summer a feature called Programs that Work, which had  touted  the  success of eight condom-based sex-ed curriculums. Now the agency is focusing  on  abstinence-only  programs.  Says  Lloyd  Kolbe,  director  of the cdc's division  of  adolescent  and  school  health  and  an  original author of the condom feature: "It was a very limited approach."

What's different now? The '90s presented a mixed picture of teen sexual health. There was  a  solid  20%  decline  in  the  teen  birth rate, and according to a cdc report released  last  week,  sexual  activity  decreased  15%. But the incidence of certain sexually  transmitted diseases rose among adolescents. A quarter of all new HIV cases today  occur  in  those  ages 21 and younger. And doctors are reporting more frequent diagnoses of herpes and the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which is linked to cervical cancer  and  is  thought  to  infect more than 15% of sexually active teens. The last figure  is  the  one  gnawing  at  some doctors. Though the particulars of HPV remain something  of a medical mystery, we have learned at least one frightening thing about the  disease:  hpv  is  spread  through  skin-to-skin  contact  of genitals and their surrounding areas, so condoms do not always protect against it. Which means, as Sulak is fond of saying, there is no such thing as safe sex.

That  Sulak  should  be  leading  this charge is a little surprising. She is a highly respected  contraceptive  expert  who  has devoted the past decade to researching the birth-control  pill.  She came to her latest cause seven years ago when she was asked to  help  choose  a  sex-ed  program for her son's middle school. The curriculums she examined  were  steeped  in ideology and medical errors. So she designed one, drawing extensively  on  data  from the National Institutes of Health and the cdc. "All we've done is state facts," she says, "and you can't argue with facts."

But  the  way  those facts are framed is drawing fire from both sides. Some hard-line conservatives,  who  see  sex  ed  as  the  one  culture  war  in which they have had consistent  successes,  contend  Sulak  doesn't  do enough to promote the sanctity of marriage,  a  condition  of  receiving  federal  abstinence  funding.  Nor  are  they particularly  pleased by the prospect of young children spending part of their school days  looking  at  cervixes.  Says Leslee Unruh, president of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse:  "I've  raised  five  abstinent  children  without showing one of them diseased genitals."

For their part, advocates of comprehensive sex ed worry about sins of omission. Worth the  Wait  is  silent  on masturbation and homosexuality and, in keeping with federal guidelines,   mentions   condoms  only  to  point  out  their  myriad  imperfections. "Manipulating  facts about condoms is using a scare tactic to try and get kids not to be  sexually active," says Tamara Kreinin, president of the Sexuality Information and Education  Council of the U.S. "And the fact that physicians are now doing this gives it an added level of credibility." Dr. David Kaplan, a professor of pediatrics at the University  of Colorado School of Medicine, shares her concern: "It's infuriating not to give kids information so that they can protect themselves."

Yet  some  of  Sulak's  most  ardent  defenders  also  come  from  within the medical profession.  "I'm  a  convert to her way of thinking," says Dr. Gerald Joseph Jr., an obstetrician-gynecologist  in  Springfield, Mo., and district officer at the American College  of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. "There's no question her program is 100% medically  accurate  and  responsible." Indeed, doctors have a hand in all aspects of the  Worth  the  Wait  curriculum.  Not  only  do  they  train  health educators from participating  schools,  but  either  a  doctor or medical student also gives a guest lecture  to  students  during  the semester. If at any point during the program those students  say they won't be abstaining until wedlock, they are promptly referred to a medical professional to talk about contraceptives.

Perhaps  the  most  pressing question about Worth the Wait is the one that has dogged the  abstinence  movement  from  the  start:  Does  it  work?  Though a major federal evaluation  of 11 programs is due out early next year, no study has yet confirmed the merits  of the just-say-no approach. But there are small signs that Worth the Wait is making  a  difference.  A  continuing  evaluation  that involves Texas A&M University professors  found that from 1999 to 2001, frequency of sexual activity among seventh- and eighth-graders in the program dropped 4% and 2% respectively.

Back  in  Caldwell, Seth Claude and his girlfriend Chaille say they are taking things slowly.  "We  sit next to each other on the bus and at lunch," he says. And when they get together, they often wind up talking about genital warts.

--With reporting by Perry Bacon Jr./Washington and Adam Pitluk/Caldwell
 
 
 
 
 

October 4, 2002
Childhood divorce fuels fire of new rock
By Steve Beard SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/culture/20021004-72687856.htm

A new generation of rock 'n' roll songwriters have become the chroniclers of an old problem: the effects of divorce and parental abandonment upon children. Pop star Pink describes her childhood as anything but a cel-ebration on "Missundaztood," her new album. "You  fight  about  money,  'bout me and my brother/And this I come home to, this  is  my shelter/It ain't easy growin' up in World War III/Never knowin' what love  could be, you'll see/I don't want love to destroy me like it has done to my family," she sings in "Family Portrait." Pink's  lyrics  touch a raw nerve in a generation that grew up with ringside seats  to  divorce  and  abandonment.  While  their parents were singing songs of protest  about  foreign wars and civil rights, a new breed of songwriters relates more closely to the combat zone of their homes. Rock  songwriters  who  experienced  divorce at an early age include Creed's Scott  Stapp  (father  left at age 5), Korn's Jonathan Davis (parents divorced at age  3),  Linkin  Park's  Chester  Bennington (mother left at age 11), Slipknot's Corey Taylor, and Eminem. "The  anger  hurts  my ears, been running strong for seven years/Rather than fix  the  problem  they never solve it; it makes no sense at all/I see them every day;  we  get  along  so  why  can't they?" asks Blink 182's Tom DeLonge on "Stay Together for the Kids," found on their latest album. The  normally  whimsical Mr. DeLonge wrote the song about the devastation he experienced as an 18-year-old when his parents got divorced. Bandmate Mark Hoppus experienced the same when he was in the third grade. "We  get  e-mails  about 'Stay Together,' kid after kid after kid saying, 'I know exactly what you're talking about! That song is about my life!'" Mr. DeLonge told  Blender  magazine.  "You  look at statistics that 50 percent of parents get divorced,  and  you're  going to get a pretty large group of kids who don't agree with what their parents have done. "Is this a damaged generation?" he asks. "Yeah, I'd say so." Roland  Warren,  president of the National Fatherhood Initiative, says these lyrics make a strong case for keeping marriages intact. "They  are  clearly  articulating that [divorce] affects these kids, that it hurts them deeply, and there are consequences to what's been happening." Books  like  Judith Wallerstein's "The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce" contend there  are  long-lasting  effects  upon the children of broken marriages, and the eruption  of  songs chronicling the pain of divorce provide anecdotal evidence to support that thesis. Aaron  Lewis  of  Staind  soared to the top of the rock world as the King of Pain  with  his band's 2001 album, "Break the Cycle." His melancholy ballads drip with alienation and disillusionment: "To my mother, to my father/It's your son or it's  your  daughter/Are my screams loud enough for you to hear me?/Should I turn it up for you?" he asks on the song "For You." Mr.  Lewis'  parents  divorced  when  he  was  13,  after years of fighting, separating  and  reuniting.  "There  wasn't  much of a safe home atmosphere," Mr. Lewis  told  Rolling  Stone. "There wasn't the feeling of a tight-knit family. My grandfather  died,  and  his  whole side of the family may as well have died with him, because we were basically disowned. To have half of my family disappear left me with a lot of abandonment issues." Heartbreak and abandonment have long been popular themes in rock and country music.  Johnny  Cash  recorded  Shel Silverstein's "A Boy Named Sue" in 1969 ("My daddy  left  home when I was 3"), John Lennon recorded "Mother" in 1970 ("Father, you  left  me,  but  I  never  left you"), and the Temptations turned "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" into a huge hit in 1972 ("Wherever he laid his hat was his home"). Nickelback's  singer-songwriter Chad Kroeger was 2 when his father abandoned the  family.  In  the  hit  song  "Too  Bad,"  he sings: "You left without saying goodbye/Although  I'm  sure  you tried/You call and ask from time to time/To make sure we're still alive/But you weren't there right when I'm needing you most." Mr.  Kroeger  says  fans break down in tears as they tell him that they went through the same situation. Jacoby  Shaddix  of Papa Roach knows that feeling. He wrote the song "Broken Home" about his father's exit at age 7: "I can't seem to fight these feelings/I'm caught  in  the  middle of this/My wounds are not healing/I'm stuck in between my parents/I wish I had someone to talk to/Someone to confide in." When  his  father  left,  Mr. Shaddix says he took the weight of the divorce upon  his shoulders, suspecting it was his fault. Like many of these angst-ridden songs, the issue of fatherhood abandonment is confronted with furious honesty: "I know  my father loves me/But does my father even care/If I'm sad or I'm angry/You were never ever there/When I needed you/I hope you regret what you did." This  genre  of family counseling under the bright lights of the stage found national  prominence  when  Art  Alexakis  of  the band Everclear penned the 1997 megahit  "Father  of  Mine,"  about  the day his father walked out on the family. "Father  of  mine  tell me, how do you sleep?/With all the children you abandoned and  the  wife  I saw you beat?/I will never be safe. I will never be sane/I will always be weird inside, I will always be lame." Mr.  Alexakis  was  10  when  his  father left. A few years after "Father of Mine,"  he  wrote the song "Wonderful," zeroing in on the breakup: "I hope my mom and I hope my dad/Will figure out why they get so mad/I hear them scream. /I hear them fight/They say bad words that make me want to cry." "There's  a hole in the soul of every kid in the shape of their fathers, and for about 40 years in social policy we've been trying to fill that hole with lots of  other  things: money, quality time, mentors," says Mr. Warren of the National Fatherhood  Initiative.  "These  things are important and they all certainly have their role, but what is clear here is not only that these artists are saying this but  we're  finding  this also when you communicate with kids that aren't famous. They long for family and they mourn the fact that they didn't have a family." The  band  Good Charlotte from Annapolis has been capturing the attention of the MTV crowd with their punchy pop-punk songs. On their debut album, songwriting twins  Benji  and Joel Madden describe the stark way in which their father walked out on the family on Christmas Eve. But  they  also  praise  their  mother. "I'll always thank you/More than you could know/Than I could ever show," they sing in "Thank you, Mom." "There's  nothing I won't do to say these words to you/That you're beautiful forever/You were my mom you were my dad/And even when the times got hard you were there to let/Us know that we'd get through."
 
 
 
 

October 2, 2002
Black women unlucky in love
By Cheryl Wetzstein THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/culture/20021002-81903789.htm

"A long time ago, I asked God to send me a decent man. I got Robert, Cedric, Darrell and Kenneth. God's got some serious explaining to do," says Savannah, the lonely news producer in the movie "Waiting to Exhale." The  1995  film,  based on the best-selling book by Terry McMillan, features Whitney  Houston,  Angela  Bassett,  Loretta  Devine  and  Lela  Rochon  as  four beautiful,  talented  black  women, each searching for true love with a black man who  doesn't  look like a "human submarine sandwich" and isn't a cheater, addict, hustler or homosexual. In  the  end, two of the women find promising relationships. The third woman decides  she may have to live life alone, while the fourth woman, newly pregnant, decides to become a single mother. In  July,  the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for   Health  Statistics  released  an  unprecedented  report  on  American  love relationships, which shows that black women's woes are not fictional. The  report,  "Cohabitation,  Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the United States,"  indicated  that  black  women,  when compared with other racial groups, were: Least likely to marry. Least likely to marry a long-term cohabiting partner. Most likely to have their marriages end in separation or divorce. Most likely to stay separated (neither reconcile nor divorce). Least likely to remarry. Most likely to see their second marriages end. The report is based on "very strong data" from the National Survey of Family Growth,  said  center  statistician and report co-author William D. Mosher, which supplies  complete  marriage  histories,  complete  cohabitation  histories,  and details on separation and divorce. Center researchers found at least a few clues about why almost half of black women's  marriages  didn't  last 10 years, he said: Being coerced into premarital sex, having a child at the wrong time, marrying as a teen, having a family income of  less than $25,000 and growing up in a home without two biological parents all were associated with marital breakup, Mr. Mosher said. Lorraine  C.  Blackman,  who  teaches  black  family life studies at Indiana University, said the troubles in black male-female relationships include personal responsibility   but   go   a  lot  deeper,  into  attitudes  of  the  sexes  and "marriageability." For  instance,  she said, many black men have the traditional view that they should  be  the final authority in the house. They don't realize that black women "have not been socialized to sit back and let the man make the decisions." Attitudes  about  sex are also out of sync: Many black men see cheating on a girlfriend  or  a  wife as forgivable, but "African-American women tend to be the least likely to tolerate infidelity," she said. The  scene  in  "Waiting  to  Exhale"  in which the betrayed wife burned the cheating  husband's  clothes  in  his car was shocking to black men, Ms. Blackman said,  "because  they are not accustomed to seeing an African-American woman take such  a violent action; they're used to a woman cursing at him when he comes home or throwing dishes." "Marriageability" is another part of the picture, Ms. Blackman added. Many  black  women are achieving high educational and professional goals and seek  mates  with  similar  standards, she said. However, far fewer black men are going  to  college  or  getting  professional  jobs. Although many black men have good-paying  blue-collar jobs, she said, others seem to bounce between low-paying jobs or are in and out of jail. As  a  result,  some  women say, "I can do bad by myself, so I'd rather stay single  and  climb  the ladder of success than burden myself with someone who may not  have  the same aspirations and goals that I have," said Louisiana State Rep. Sharon  Weston  Broome,  who was in her 40s when she became a first-time bride in 1999. Low-income  black women, who tend to pair with the men in their communities, face  even  steeper  odds. The old welfare system did little or nothing to employ black  men  and  even helped dismantle marriage by reducing a woman's benefits if she lived with an employed man. Today's welfare-to-work policies are helping black women obtain jobs and are more  welcoming  to  a  man  in  the  house, but tax policies still carry a harsh "marriage  penalty"  for  low-income  married couples, and welfare has had little focus on black male employment. Marriage   may   not  make  sense  in  some  of  these  cases,  said  Dianna Durham-McLoud,  a child-support specialist who now works with the National Center for  Strategic  Nonprofit  Planning  and  Community  Leadership,  which  seeks to strengthen families and neighborhoods. "Poor  women do not need another dependent," Mrs. Durham-McLoud said. "Women want someone in their lives who can, in fact, add something to the table." Solutions  include  responsible fatherhood initiatives, such as the programs offered  by  the  planning  center, because they provide relationship counseling, man-to-man  mentoring and job training to young fathers, Mrs. Durham-McLoud said, adding, "Nine out of 10 of the young men walking through our doors say, 'I need a job.'" Government  efforts  in  "family strengthening" including marriage education are  also  important  "to help people make good decisions and know that there are benefits  to  being  married,"  said  Mrs.  Broome,  who  is  co-chairman  of the Governor's Commission on Marriage and Families in Louisiana. Already,  she  said,  evidence  shows  that  more  black  women  are seeking premarital counseling. "How  is  it  that  we  take the two most important things we do in our life getting  married  and  having  children  and  we expect people to learn it all by osmosis?" Mrs. Durham-McLoud said. That might be possible "if you have the great good  fortune of plopping into one of those functional, loving, nurturing homes," she said, "but what about the rest of us?" Black families are floundering in part because "men and women aren't pulling together  as effectively as they did in the past," said Ms. Blackman, who teaches an eight-week marriage-enrichment course tailored to black couples. Marriage  education  can  be "very powerful," she said, "if it helps couples understand  the  dynamics  of  relationships,  whether  it's  as they begin their relationships or if they're ironing out problems in midlife marriages."
 
 
 
 
 

Half of World's Violent Deaths Are Suicides
-WHO Thu Oct 3,10:17 AM ET
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=570&ncid=753&e=1&u=/nm/20021003/sc_nm/health_violence_dc

Yahoo! News Science - Reuters

By Patricia Reaney and Katie Nguyen

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Violence in all its forms kills 1.6 million people worldwide each year and around half the deaths are suicides, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report released on Thursday.

The  report says violence is among the leading causes of death from the mid-teens to middle age.

Whether  it  is  war,  homicide,  suicide or domestic, sexual or community abuse, violence  pervades  all levels of society and costs billions of dollars a year in healthcare and law enforcement costs, as well as lost productivity.

"The  most shocking thing is how big the problem is regardless of country, region or  religion.  Violence  is unacceptably high in all countries," said Dr. Etienne Krug, the author of the first WHO report on violence.

Three  years in the making and with input from 160 experts from around the globe, the  report  --  launched in Brussels -- is the most comprehensive account of the cruelty humans inflict on each other and themselves ever compiled.

WHO  Director-General  Gro  Harlem  Brundtland  cited  substance  abuse,  marital conflict, the availability of firearms and gender and income inequalities as some of the causes of violence.

"When  we  are  personally  confronted  by  violence  it  profoundly disturbs and unsettles  us, yet violence has such a persistent presence in our society that we often ignore it," she said.

"Today,  the World Health Organization sounds the alarm by releasing the report," Brundtland added, urging action from governments to tackle violence with emphasis on prevention.

Belgium's  King  Albert, European Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou and  other  delegates  at  the  launch,  heard  testimony from several victims -- including  Mick  North who described how his five-year-old daughter was shot dead along with 15 classmates in Scotland's Dunblane massacre.

A  former  university  lecturer,  North said he quit his job after suffering from depression in the wake of the murders.

HALF ARE SUICIDES

Out of 1.6 million annual violent deaths, half were suicides, one third homicides and 20 percent were war related, the WHO report says.

Suicide  accounted  for  an  estimated 815,000 deaths in 2000, making it the 13th leading  cause  of  death  worldwide.  Three  times  as  many people over 75 kill themselves as 15-24 year olds.

Eastern European people have the highest suicide rate, countries in Latin America and a few in Asia have the lowest.

In  the same year, about 520,000 people died as result of domestic, youth, family or  institutional  violence  including rape, sexual assault and abuse of children and the elderly.

As  many  as  70  percent  of  women  in some countries have been abused by their husbands  and  up  to  30  percent of women said their first sexual encounter was forced, Krug noted.

According to the report, the 20th century was one of the most violent in history. About  191 million people, half of them civilians, lost their lives through armed conflict.

The   report  calls  for  increasing  data  collection  on  violence,  prevention strategies and better care for victims.

It also wants education policies to promote gender and social equality, adherence to  international treaties protecting human rights and greater efforts to respond to violence linked to global trade in arms and drugs.

Rejecting the notion that violence was part of the human condition, Belgian Prime Minister  Guy  Verhofstadt concluded: "The basic message contained in this report is that violence can be overcome. I don't think there can be a more ambitious aim for this new century."
 
 

Coalition wants to change hotel porn channels
Tue Sep 24, 7:53 AM ET
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/usatoday/20020924/en_usatoday/4474217&e=3

Yahoo! News USA TODAY

Kitty Bean Yancey USA TODAY

A group that helped pull the plug on explicit adult movies at three Cincinnati-area hotels met Monday in Washington, D.C., with 14 other grass-roots organizations in hopes of X-ing out such entertainment at lodgings nationwide.

"We're  going  to  put on a full-court press . . . to educate people that hotels are  distributing  hard-core  pornography,"  says Phil Burress, president of the Cincinnati-based  Citizens  for  Community  Values,  one  of  the  groups  in the coalition  that  he  says  represents  more  than  20  million families and meets regularly to discuss decency issues.

Burress  says the coalition will urge Attorney General John Ashcroft ( news - web sites)  and  the  Justice  Department  ( news - web sites) to crack down on hotel porn,  which  often  is  distributed  across state lines. Susan Dryden, a Justice Department  spokeswoman,  says  the  department  "is committed to enforcement of federal obscenity laws."

Hotel  room  pay-per-view  offerings  have  become  more graphic in recent years, showing  close-ups of all manner of sex acts, Burress says. The pro-family groups say kids can access many hotel skinflicks at the click of a button.

In  August,  his  group  alerted  prosecutors  to the nature of adult fare at the Marriott  Northeast  in  Mason,  Ohio,  and  at  a  Newport, Ky., Comfort Suites. Authorities  got  similar complaints about a Newport Travelodge. The three hotels agreed  to  stop  the  offerings  after  prosecutors said they violated community standards of decency -- the court test for whether material is legally obscene.

Currently,  the  American Family Association of Michigan is urging prosecutors in that state to go after hotels offering explicit fare in Grand Rapids, Holland and Midland.

Across  the country, perhaps unknowingly, "hotels are breaking the law. A lot of the  material  they  sell  opens  them  up to prosecution," says Bruce Taylor, a former  prosecutor  and  now  president of the non-profit National Law Center for Children and Families.

Hotel chains say it's a matter of choice. "We understand that there's a level of sensitivity  and  different  feelings  about  this  subject  matter," says Roger Conner,  a  Marriott  spokesman. "We provide a wide range of choices, and anyone can block (adult entertainment) out. No one has to see it."

But  many guests are choosing the racy stuff. "It's a major business in the U.S. hotel  market  --  approximately  $500  million  a  year,"  says  Leonard Sabal, president  of  Cabil  Corp.,  which  helps hotels bill for in-room entertainment. Typically,  50%  to  60%  of  pay-per-view hotel sales involve adult products, he says. Explicitness has increased "because the customers want it."

Tad  Walden,  vice  president of marketing at On Command, a leading provider of a wide  range  of in-room hotel entertainment, says its adult fare "is the same as (offered  by)  cable companies or satellite TV companies" for home viewing. And, "we try to adhere to the various standards in various communities."

Meanwhile,  the  Omni  hotel  chain -- which voluntarily removed adult movies two years  ago  --  reports  that  it has lost revenue, but "we have had over 50,000 messages  of  support," says spokeswoman Kim Blackmon. One traveling businessman wrote: "Thanks for taking away the temptation."
 
 
 
 
 
 

                       September 23, 2002
Texan takes True Love Waits to Zimbabwe youth
  http://www.baptiststandard.com/2002/9_23/pages/zimbabwe.html

                         By Sue Sprenkle

                   International Mission Board

BULAWAYO,  Zimbabwe  (BP)--Banners  stretch across the width of the
street.  Posters  and  fists  pump  high  in  the  air  to  rhythmic
chants. Masses of determined  youth  march  down the street. The
excitement electrifies the air.  Merchants and vendors leave their shops
to see what the commotion is about.

In  Zimbabwe,  political  marches  are  as abundant as the elephants
in the bush,  but  this  rally  stands  out  above the rest. It is a
celebration of a commitment  that  could  change  the  future of Zimbabwe,
a celebration of new hope.

This  rally  is  one  of  six  in  Zimbabwe this summer that cap a
two-year campaign  for  True  Love  Waits,  a  Southern Baptist program
that emphasizes abstinence and marital fidelity.

The  celebrations  come just as Zimbabwe's government officially declared
a six-month  emergency  period to deal with one of the highest rates of
HIV/AIDS infections in the world. Youth attending the rally are certain
True Love Waits is the best way to combat the deadly disease.

One  girl  stands up and tells the students she and her friends had
decided it  was  finally  time for them to have sex. The next day,
however, journeyman missionary  Greg Benno and his crew visited their
school and talked about True Love Waits.

"That's  when  I  realized  that sex is for marriage. Sex is for love,"
she announces  to  the crowd. "This is a commitment that I've made to
Jesus Christ and to my future husband."

When  Benno,  a  Plano  native  and  Baylor  University  graduate,
started traveling  across  Zimbabwe,  talking  to government and private
schools about True  Love  Waits,  he  had  no idea so many youth would
respond to a call for purity. His original goal was to find 5,000
students to sign commitment cards.  Today, he's registered more than
65,000 commitments to purity.

He  hopes many students realize they can be rescued not only from AIDS,
but also from sin.

Zimbabwean  health  officials  report an average of 2,500 citizens die
from AIDS every week and that at least 20 percent of the nation's 14
million people have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

"Anyone  who  follows  True  Love Waits will be a witness," Benno
predicts.  "When they are old and the young ask them why they didn't die
during the great AIDS  pandemic,  the youth of today will bear witness
to the youth of tomorrow about God's perfect plan.

"Can  you imagine 65,000 people pulling out their True Love Waits cards
and explaining why they didn't die? It's just going to be awesome!"
 
 

NO-SEX CAMPAIGN MOVES BEYOND TEENS
            http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/

                      THE ORLANDO SENTINEL

                September 22, 2002 Sunday, FINAL

                  SECTION: LIFE & TIMES; Pg. F3

               NO-SEX CAMPAIGN MOVES BEYOND TEENS

             by Kate Santich, Sentinel Staff Writer

When it comes to premarital sex, the Just Say Not Yet campaign is
hardly new.  It's just never targeted such a mature audience before.

For two decades the effort has focused almost exclusively on teenagers,
particularly high school and college students -- even if, so to speak,
their horses had already left the barn. In fact, a program called Sex
Respect was preaching the virtues of so-called secondary virginity as
far back as 1985.

Sex Respect, the creation of former high school teachers Kent and Coleen
Kelly Mast, debuted in Florida in 1987, complete with the liberal use
of bumper stickers. "Control Your Urgin', Be a Virgin," one read.

It now bills itself as the world's leading abstinence-education program --
reaching hundreds of thousands of school kids every year -- and it has had
plenty of imitators. They include Aim for Success, Passion & Principles,
the Pure Love Alliance  and the Southern Baptist Convention's True Love
Waits, a campaign that has persuaded more than 1 million young people
to sign chastity-until-marriage pledges.

The abstinence movement is fueled primarily by political backlash
and money.  By the late 1970s, many school sex-education courses
had a just-the-facts approach to covering intercourse, pregnancy,
birth control and venereal disease.  Teachers tended to steer clear of
emotional consequences and moral decision-making, leaving kids with a
clinical lecture on a consuming, hormonal topic.

When conservative Christians gained political power in the '80s --
a time of rising teen pregnancy and abortion rates and the growing
threat of AIDS -- they began a vigorous battle to teach morals, not
mechanics. And they got the money to do it.

Federal spending for abstinence-only education programs has mushroomed
from roughly $11 million a year in the early '80s to a proposed $172.5
million for 2003. And by the end of 1999, abstinence was the only form
of family planning taught at more than a third of the nation's public
schools.

In fact, school districts in 49 states now have abstinence-only education
-- California, renegade that it is, being the exception. But critics
say there's one very considerable problem.

"This stuff has been around for 20 years, and we still don't have any
evidence that it works," says Adrienne Verrilli, spokeswoman for the
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. "It
tends to be very fear- and shame-based, and the only time it talks about
contraception is to cite failure rates."

The sexuality council says the only independent research on the subject
was a lone study that looked at whether teens who signed chastity
pledge cards -- such as those of True Love Waits -- held to their
promise. Researchers found that they did, abstaining for an average of
18 months, but only if less than 30 percent of their class or church
group signed the pledge. It seems the more likely kids were to sign,
the less sincere the vow.

And there was a downside. When participants did eventually have sex,
they were 30 percent less likely to use contraception than their peers.

"It's terrific that they're delaying, but the fact that they're then
putting themselves at risk is very disturbing," Verrilli says.

But Jimmy Hester, coordinator for the True Love Waits campaign, says the
figures, though accurate, may be misleading. The study included older
teens who may have ended their abstinence with marriage.

"Obviously, since we're coming up on our 10th year, we think we've
had some impact," Hester says. "But we recognize it's not for every
teenager. We've been able to reach a segment, but by no means have we
ever claimed to reach them all."
 
 
 
 

MS might be sexually transmitted

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20020918-043829-4438r

United Press International
 

From the Science & Technology Desk Published 9/19/2002 12:05 AM

LONDON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Building on a longstanding theory that multiple sclerosis is triggered by an as-yet-undiscovered virus, a British researcher has assembled evidence from dozens of different studies he claims support his hypothesis MS might be transmitted primarily by sexual contact.

A number of experts contacted by United Press International questioned the validity of the data used to support the theory, however.

"This is a new way of looking at multiple sclerosis -- it provides a testable hypothesis," Christopher Hawkes, a neurologist at London's Institute for Neurology and the expounder of the idea, told UPI.

"It's a sensitive subject, because if you had MS and you had a perfectly respectable upbringing, respectable life, with just one or two partners before you married, you wouldn't like to think it had the same stigma as something like syphilis," Hawkes said.

Sufferers of multiple sclerosis progressively develop scarring of the myelin, the protective sheath that covers the nerves. The condition leads to muscle weakness, blurred vision, slurred speech, tremors and other symptoms. MS affects as many as 500,000 people in the United States. There is no known cure.

Hawkes' research turned up four small MS epidemics that occurred on the Faroe, Orkney and Shetland islands and in Iceland following large influxes of Allied troops during World War II. This suggests sexual activity between women on the islands -- who previously had lower rates of infection -- and troops from geographic regions with higher rates of infection led to the outbreaks. There are questions about the accuracy of some of the relevant statistics, however.

Hawkes suggested -- as have other researchers -- that because the human T-Cell lymphotrophic virus-1, or HTLV-1, has been shown to cause a disease with symptoms quite similar to MS, a viral agent might be at work and might be transmitted sexually.

Among the studies cited by Hawkes are one done in Kashmir, India and another in Thugbah, Saudi Arabia, where extramarital sexual relations are thought to be relatively rare. Both showed extremely low rates of MS.

In contrast, research shows increased MS rates in western countries following the introduction of birth control pills and less use of barrier methods, beginning in the 1970s, he said.

"There is absolutely no data to support (this) hypothesis," Lauren Krupp, a neurologist and co-director of the MS center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, told UPI. "For every point that the author raises to support his argument there is a very strong counter-argument," she said. "The specific kinds of things you would look for to support his argument aren't found in the existing data in the literature."

Krupp, who also is a spokeswoman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, cited a study -- also used by Hawkes -- of 13,000 married couples with one spouse contracting MS but showing no evidence of a higher rate of transmission to the other spouse.

Hawkes responded he thinks susceptibility to the disease is higher at younger ages and some studies of couples do show five times the rate expected in the general population. In addition, he said, in tropical spastic paraplegia, the disease caused by HTLV-1 -- which is known to be sexually transmitted -- transmission among married couples is relatively low. The same may be true for MS.

He acknowledged, however, that a virus, if it exists, also might need to act along with genetic susceptibility -- generally thought to be a key ingredient to developing the disease. "I say let's have a look at it rather than talking it into the ground. ... You've got to keep an open mind because nobody has the answer on MS," Hawkes said.

Although there may very well be a viral agent, or multiple viral agents, Krupp said, increased rates following higher levels of troops in isolated communities could be explained by viral transmission that was not necessarily sexual -- something Hawkes agrees is possible.

Graeme Stewart, an immunologist at Westmead Hospital in Sydney, Australia, told UPI, "The sexually transmitted infection hypothesis in multiple sclerosis is of low credibility."

Hawkes theory will be published in the October issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

--

Reported by Joe Grossman, UPI Science News, in Santa Cruz, Calif.)
 
 
 

Welfare promotes marriage

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020916-9551968.htm

September 16, 2002 By Cheryl Wetzstein THE WASHINGTON TIMES Special Report

Darrin and Valerie Chandler were struggling financially and thinking about ending their nine-year marriage when they reluctantly attended a government-funded marriage-education workshop near Phoenix this summer. The workshop turned their relationship around, they said. "We're  both  stubborn  people,"  said Mrs. Chandler. "We even went into the program  thinking,  'Yeah  right,  we'll go, but for all we've been through, this probably isn't going to help us.'" But the weekend class "has been a total blessing," said Mr. Chandler, adding that  with  the communication skills he and his wife learned, "we've been pulling ourselves out slowly" from their debts. The   Chandlers   are   one   of   517   Arizona   couples  who  have  taken marriage-education  classes  paid  for by funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy  Families (TANF) welfare program. The program, created in the landmark 1996 welfare reform law, has several goals, including "promoting job preparation, work and  marriage"  and  to  "encourage  the  formation and maintenance of two-parent families." The  Chandlers'  positive  experience  was  echoed  in most of the dozens of interviews  conducted  over  the  past  year  with  couples,  educators,  welfare caseworkers  and welfare recipients in Arizona, Oklahoma and West Virginia, where TANF funds are being used to promote or support marriage. In  Arizona,  where  more  than  $1  million in TANF funds has been spent on marriage-education  classes,  many  couples  share the views of Scott Mielke, who attended  classes  in  Flagstaff  with  his  wife  Zona.  "I think if the federal government is going to do something about families, it needs to be proactive like this," he said. In  Oklahoma,  around  $1.8  million  in  TANF  funds  have  been spent on a wide-ranging  "marriage  initiative," including communication-skills classes with TANF  recipients.  "I  can  see  things  from  my mate's point of view," said one Oklahoma welfare mother who attended such a course. "I  should  find  the  right person and take my time not to rush into a dead end," concluded another mother. In  West Virginia, the state has spent $12.8 million to give 128,497 married couples an extra $100 a month in their welfare checks. "It was like a blessing in disguise.  That  $100  makes  so  much difference," said Darren Butler, 30, whose family  went  on welfare last year when both he and his wife lost their full-time jobs.

Law up for reauthorization

The 1996 welfare law, which expires Sept. 30, is now up for reauthorization, and  the  Bush  administration and its allies in Congress want to see more states get involved in promoting healthy marriages. "My   administration   will  give  unprecedented  support  to  strengthening marriages,"  President  Bush  said  in  February,  when he unveiled a proposal to allocate up to $300 million a year in TANF funds for pro-marriage grants. "Strong marriages  and  stable  families  are  incredibly  good  for children. And stable families should be the central goal of American welfare policy," he said. But  liberals  and  feminist  groups  reject  the  idea of government-funded support to bolster marriages. "It's   a  hare-brained  scheme  as  a  poverty-reduction  strategy,"  Heidi Hartmann,  president  of  the  Institute  for  Women's Policy Research, said at a welfare briefing earlier this year. "If  government  were to encourage or coerce welfare couples to get married, it  could  endanger the lives of women and children" since 60 percent of women on welfare  have  suffered  from domestic violence, said Rep. Pete Stark, California Democrat, who this year introduced a resolution saying that the government should not be involved in personal decisions about marriage. "The  purpose  of  welfare is to help the poorest people move out of poverty and   into   self-sufficiency,"   said  Kim  Gandy,  president  of  the  National Organization for Women. "To  make  'finding a man' the administration-approved ticket out of poverty is  not  just  an  insulting  throwback,  it's terrible public policy," she said, adding   that   "not   a  single  dime"  should  be  diverted  from  child  care, transportation and other critical welfare services. In  several  states, efforts to use TANF funds to promote marriage have been successfully challenged by opponents. In  the  late 1990s, Wisconsin lawmakers allocated $210,000 in TANF funds to hire  a "marriage policy coordinator" to assist members of the clergy in adopting community marriage standards. The  Freedom  From  Religion Foundation sued Wisconsin, saying its "marriage meddlers"  law  violated the separation of church and state. In May 2000, a judge agreed  with  the  foundation  and  the  $210,000  marriage  project  "never went anywhere,"  said  a  spokesman  in  the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services. TANF-funded  marriage-promotion  plans  have  also  died  in Colorado, Iowa, Mississippi, New Mexico and Washington. Congress,  however,  has  warmed  to  the marriage-promotion idea: The House welfare  bill,  passed  in  May,  includes  the Bush administration's annual $300 million proposal for pro-marriage projects, while a Senate Finance Committee bill offers  a  smaller  pot  of  money for an array of services that include marriage education. The  Senate  is expected to take up welfare reform this month , but it's not clear  whether  there's  enough  time  to pass a bill by Sept. 30. If differences cannot  be  worked  out,  Congress  is  likely  to pass a measure to continue the current law for another year, congressional aides say.

Taking up the challenge

Meanwhile,   Arizona  and  Oklahoma  have  attracted  attention  with  their ambitious TANF-funded marriage projects. In 2000, the Arizona legislature set aside around $1.1 million in TANF funds to  subsidize  marriage-skills  seminars  and  create  a  booklet on marriage and family-related issues. The  funding a fraction of the $17 million originally sought is an important first  step,  said  Arizona  State  Rep.  Mark Anderson, a leading sponsor of the marriage  legislation.  "The  breaking  down of a marriage, or even existing in a marriage  wracked  by conflict and violence, is the essential source of a host of social problems. It's time to move in the direction of prevention." Last summer, the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) issued grants ranging  from $6,720 to $231,050 to 11 contractors to offer marriage education to couples. A second round of grants to four contractors was made recently. As  part  of the deal, the state pays 85 percent of class costs for couples, unless  they  are  low-income  and  have children, in which case the state pays a voucher for 100 percent of the costs. To date, 517 couples have taken classes, including 26 who came on a voucher, said DES spokesman Ben Levine. Many  Arizona  couples  said  in  interviews  that  they  benefited from the classes. Bill  Jenney  and  his  second  wife, Vanessa, paid $60 to attend Bob Tures' eight-session  Couples  Workshop  in  Flagstaff  in  order  to  meet a premarital requirement of her church. To his surprise, the experience "was real good." "It  wasn't an emotional strip-search. They weren't there to solve anybody's problems.  They  were  just there to teach people how to talk to each other," Mr. Jenney said. When  asked  if  this was a good use of welfare funds, Mr. Jenney said: "I'm basically  a  libertarian  and think the least government is the best government, but  in  this  case,  I  can see how a lot of people can really benefit from this class." Furthermore, he said, the government funding "gets people in." The  classes  are  a valuable use of TANF funds because "money runs out, but education you are able to keep forever," Mrs. Jenney said. "My  mom  was  married  four times and every time she remarried, she married someone  worse  than  before,"  Mrs.  Jenney said. "If my mother had had marriage education,  she could have changed and things could have changed for us. It would have been a wonderful experience if she had chosen a healthy relationship." Mr.  Chandler, who attended the faith-based National Association of Marriage Enhancement (NAME) workshop near Phoenix, said that classes might have helped his parents as well. "I  grew up, briefly, in a welfare house and when my parents broke up, I can remember the bickering that went on," he said. "I think my father would have been so  much more of a man if he had had a chance" to get marriage education. "And my mother it would have helped her, too." Mrs.  Chandler  said  it  was  important  to  have the option of attending a faith-based  program  like  NAME.  Other education programs might offer the "same ideas and concepts," she said, "but I think if I had gone to a [secular] program, we probably would have followed through with the splitting up."

Strengthening families

Most  of  the  Arizona couples that were interviewed dismissed the idea that government-funded  marriage-education  classes  might  coerce poor women to marry abusive men. "That   sounds   pretty   fatalistic   and  negative,"  said  Kip  Moyer,  a pharmaceutical  sales  representative  who attended the Couples Workshop with his fiancee  to  "answer  some  questions  we had, as a new couple starting out." The workshops  are  voluntary,  said  Mr.  Moyer,  "and I think anything we can do to strengthen couples and families can only help the fabric of our country." The  workshops  may  actually  help women escape abusive relationships, said Kristi  Baty of Flagstaff, who has attended the Couples Workshop with her husband and now refers some of her clients in her parenting class to it. If a woman is in a supportive situation and sees how other couples talk with each  other,  she  may  see  more clearly what she's up against "and she may feel empowered  to  make  a  better choice," said Mrs. Baty. "I think education always provides power." In  Jennifer  Vaughan's  case, the TANF-funded FranklinCovey Seven Habits of Highly  Effective  Families workshop she attended in April with her boyfriend has helped her rethink her relationship. There  were  no  serious  problems  in  their relationship when she made the appointment  to  go  to  the  workshop, but by the time they went, she decided to leave  her  partner.  "It just wasn't coming together after a few years and I was frustrated,  at  the end of my rope," said Mrs. Vaughan, adding that both she and her boyfriend have been divorced in previous marriages. The  couple  went  their  separate  ways after the workshop, but a few weeks later,  "Randy  called  and said, 'Well, I learned a lot about myself and I would like  to  talk  with  you  about our relationship again,'" she said. They are now reconsidering a future together, using a FranklinCovey workbook they got from the seminar.  "It  is  just amazing," she said. "There's this feeling of getting onto the same page." Still,  not  everyone  thinks TANF money should be used for workshops. Alice Ferris,  who  attended  a  Couples  Workshop  with  her  husband a few years ago, personally  enjoyed  the experience. "But if the end goal is to reduce the number of families on welfare, I'm not sure this is the way to do it," she said. In  Oklahoma,  $1.8  million in TANF funds have been spent on a far-reaching Oklahoma Marriage Initiative, started by Gov. Frank Keating in 1999. By 2010 the initiative seeks to reduce Oklahoma's divorce rate by one-third, including  outreach  to  businesses,  churches  and faith-based community groups, educators,  service  providers  and  the media. More than 137 workshops have been held  through  the  Prevention  and  Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) that seeks  to  enhance  communication  skills,  and  1,600 people including 350 newly minted PREP trainers have taken the classes. TANF families can connect to the pro-marriage initiative by taking free PREP classes  offered  through  the  Oklahoma  State  University Cooperative Extension Service. "I'm excited about [teaching PREP] because I think some of the skills people lack  in marriage are taught in this class, and hopefully, they can avoid getting to  the  point where they seek a divorce," said Ranel Lasley, who has taught five PREP classes in the last year, mostly with TANF mothers. "Overall,  their  reactions  have  been positive," said Mrs. Lasley. "People say, 'Oh, I wish I had known this early on in my relationship.'" "I  think  the  people  who  work  with  the TANF clients see a lot of merit because  it  gives  them  real  skills to use," said Cindy Griffith, who has also taught several PREP courses to TANF mothers. Most  TANF  mothers  who  could not be reached directly for comment reported positive new insights on evaluation forms. "Instead  of yelling and interrupting, I've learned to listen and take turns [talking]," wrote one mother. "I think I can overcome thinking just one person is right. I can understand where the other person is coming from," wrote another. In  June,  Oklahoma  State  University  released  a  study of 2,323 Oklahoma residents  concerning  the marriage initiative. It found that, of the respondents who  had  ever  been  on  welfare,  72 percent would "consider using relationship education to strengthen" their relationship. This  rings true in Mrs. Griffith's experience with TANF mothers. "Yes, they buy  in,"  she  said. "With some audiences, you have to build a little trust. But after that, they are pretty much receptive, at least to parts of it." Meanwhile,  in  West Virginia, state lawmakers decided two years ago to give married  couples  on  welfare  an  extra $100 in their monthly welfare check. The policy  has  been  called  a  "marriage incentive" to reward families for staying together, or a "marriage rebate" because it offsets any tax penalties the couples might face. Darren and Terri Butler, who have been married for four years and have three children,  don't  quibble over whether the money is an incentive or a rebate. All they  know  is,  it  translates  into an extra $100 a month in much needed family revenue. Asked  whether  a  state  should  pay for marriage classes or provide bigger checks,  Mrs.  Butler said: "I think it makes a difference for couples to get the money. We are members of a church. If we need anything like [marriage education], that's what our reverend is for." "We have enough books to read," added Mr. Butler. Earlier  this  year,  West  Virginia  officials,  faced  with welfare budget deficits,  debated  whether  to  end the $100-a-month policy. Recently, the state decided to keep the policy. Rita M. Dobrich, an official with the state's Office of Family Support, said there  have been cases in which the mother married while on assistance; "however, we do not know how many." Breakups  also occur. One West Virginia couple interviewed in February spoke highly  of  the bonus. "It's wonderful that they promote marriage like that," the young wife said. But  the  couple  have  since separated, according to their caseworker. As a result, their welfare check fell from $660 a month to $560.
 
 
 

Prison rape - it's no joke

      http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020906-70623422.htm

                        September 6, 2002

                      The Washington Times

                            Pat Nolan

"The opposite of compassion is not hatred, it's indifference." These
words were written by a prisoner who was severely beaten after refusing
demands for sex from another inmate.

While often the subject of jokes on late-night TV, prison rape is no
laughing matter. It has terrible consequences, not just for the inmates
who are brutalized, but for our communities as well. The rate of HIV in
prisons today is 10 times higher than in the general population. Every
rape in prison can turn a sentence for a nonviolent crime into a death
sentence.

Prison rape leads to other types of death, also. Rodney Hulin set a
dumpster on fire in his neighborhood. Despite being only 16 years old, he
was sentenced to eight years in an adult prison, where he was repeatedly
beaten and raped. Despite his pleas for help, no one in authority
intervened to help him. He was told to fend for himself. Depressed and
unwilling to face the remainder of his sentence at the mercy of sexual
predators, Rodney Hulin committed suicide.  Similar suicides have occurred
in jails and prisons across the United States.

Experts estimate that at least one in 10 inmates is raped in prison.
Because 95 percent of prisoners will eventually be released back into
our communities, the horrors that occur inside prison have consequences
for the rest of us, too.

Some who suffer through brutal rapes become predators themselves, both
in prison and after their release, subjecting other innocent victims to
the same degradation that they experienced. Or they vent their rage in
other acts of violence, often racially motivated. One example is the
tragic story of James Byrd, the black man who was picked up by three
white supremacists, beaten, chained to the back of their pickup truck
and dragged for three miles to his death. One of his assailants was John
William King, a burglar who had recently been released after serving a
three-year sentence in one of Texas' toughest prisons.

When King arrived at the prison, a group of white supremacists reportedly
conspired with the guards to place King in the "black" section of the
prison. At just 140 pounds, King was unable to defend himself against a
group of black prisoners who repeatedly gang-raped him. This was exactly
what the white power gang wanted. Filled with hatred, King was easily
recruited into their group for protection. Over the remainder of his
sentence, they filled King's head full of hatred for blacks. When he was
released, John King unleashed that pent-up hatred on James Byrd. The
gang-rapes he endured in prison are no excuse for his murder of James
Byrd, but they certainly help us understand what could lead him to hate
so much.

As troubling as the incidence of rape is, equally disturbing is the
attitude of many government officials who are indifferent to it. When
asked about prison rape, Massachusetts Department of Correction spokesman
Anthony Carnevales said, "Well, that's prison . . . I don't know what
to tell you." In that offhand remark, he was expressing what many feel
in their hearts but are loathe to admit "they deserve it."

But they don't deserve it. Regardless of the crimes they have committed,
no offender's sentence includes being raped while in the custody of the
government.  By its very nature, imprisonment means a loss of control
over the circumstances in which inmates live. They cannot choose their
neighbors ( i.e., their cellmates), nor arm themselves, nor take other
steps to protect themselves.  Because the government has total control
over where and how inmates live, it is the government's responsibility
to make sure they aren't harmed while in custody.

Sens. Kennedy and Sessions and Reps. Wolf and Scott have teamed up to
sponsor the "Prison Rape Reduction Act of 2002," S. 2619 and H.R. 4943,
which would establish standards for investigating and eliminating rape,
and hold the states accountable if they fail to do so.

Winston Churchill said that the manner in which a society treats
criminals "is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilization
of any country." As Congress rushes to complete its work before the
election recess, it is important that they take the time to deal with
the scandal of prison rape, and, in doing so, meet Churchill's test of
a civilized society.
 

Pat Nolan is president of the Justice Fellowship, a non-profit group
based in Reston, Va.
 
 
 
 
 
 

                           Yahoo! News
                               AP
                       U.S. National - AP
Teens Close to Moms May Wait for Sex
                      Wed Sep 4, 9:40 AM ET
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=519&e=9&u=/ap/20020904/ap_on_re_us/teen_sex
            By LAURA MECKLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Teenage girls who have close relationships with their
mothers wait longer to have sex for the first time, researchers reported
Wednesday.

Their  findings  also  indicate girls are less likely to have sex when
their moms strongly  disapprove,  suggesting  that  mothers  matter more
than  they  might sometimes believe.

"We  need  to be more tuned in to what's happening in our children's
lives," said the  study's  author,  Dr. Robert Blum, director of
the University of Minnesota's Center  for  Adolescent  Health and
Development. "Otherwise, how can we give them clear, effective messages
about how to deal with the choices they will inevitably face?"

The  same  impact  was  not found for mothers and sons, and researchers
concluded that other influences, such as friends, simply may be stronger
for boys.

Talking  about  birth  control did not appear to have any effect on teens'
sexual behavior.

The  study  is  based  on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent
Health, a massive federal investigation of teen behavior. This research
examined interviews with  2,006  teens  ages  14-15  who  said they
were virgins. The same teens were interviewed  a  year  later, and 10.8
percent of the boys and 15.8 percent of the girls had had sex by the
second interview.

Researchers  at  the  University  of Minnesota examined extensive
interviews with their  mothers  (fathers  were not interviewed) to try
to determine what made the difference between those who became sexually
active and those who stayed virgins.

They  found  little  to explain why some boys began having sex and
others didn't.  But they said several factors made a difference for girls.

Specifically,  the  study  released  Wednesday found that mothers whose
daughters were still virgins shared several qualities:

    * They strongly disapproved of their daughters having sex.

    * They were satisfied with their relationship with their daughters.

    * They frequently talked with the parents of their daughters' friends.

    * These mothers also more likely to have a college degree.

"Parents  say they talk until they're blue in the face and their kids
still don't listen," Blum said. "Kids will pay attention to their parents'
values on sex. But talk alone does not get the message through."

Other factors made no difference in teen sex, including how religious
the mothers were,  how often they talked about sex, how uncomfortable
they were talking about sex  and  whether  they  recommended  that their
daughters use a specific kind of birth control.

The  study  was published Wednesday in the Journal of Adolescent Health. A
second study  published  in 2000, which also used data from the adolescent
survey, found similar results.

The  2000  study,  which  examined  eighth- to 11th-graders, suggested
that teens don't  always  know  that  their  mothers'  disapprove  of
sex. Among mothers who strongly  disapprove,  30 percent of their teen
daughters and 45 percent of their teen sons guessed otherwise.

"While  most mothers disapprove of their sons or daughters being sexually
active, their kids don't always get the message," researchers wrote in
their summary.

When  teens do realize that their mothers disapprove of sex, they are
less likely to  have  it.  In  addition,  younger teens are more likely to
realize that their mothers' disapprove when they feel close to their moms.

The  knowledge  gap  goes  both  ways.  Many mothers don't realize their
kids are already having sex. Half of the parents of sexually active
teens said their child was not having sex.

"Parents  and  especially  mothers  should  be  aware  of  the  role
they play in influencing their adolescent daughter's sexual behaviors,"
researchers concluded.  "Parents  need to be clear about their values
and then clearly articulate them to their children and adolescents."

___

On    the    Net:   National   Campaign   to   Prevent   Teen   Pregnancy
site: http://www.teenpregnancy.org

University  of  Minnesota  Division  of  General Pediatrics and Adolescent
Health site: http://www.allaboutkids.umn.edu.
 
 
 
 

The Tale of the Tapes

http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/coverstory/a0021918.html

               Family Issues in Policy and Culture
                   Welcome to Citizen Magazine

                A Web site of Focus on the Family

The Tale of the Tapes

        An undercover investigation reveals that abortion clinic workers
        know  what  statutory  rape  is  and  the laws requiring them
        to report it. Yet most of the time, they say nothing.

                          By Karla Dial

     Life was looking pretty good to JoAnne Bennett in 1999.

Her  job  at a Pennsylvania law firm was going well. She had two
daughters,  10  and  13, she was very proud of. And best of all,
she  was  engaged  to  a  man  she  was  sure would make a great
stepdad.

That  September,  though,  Bennett got the news that would bring
her  tranquil  world crashing down: Her fiancé had been sexually
abusing her older daughter for more than a year.

It  didnt  seem like things could get any worse but a few months
later,  they  did. Her daughter told her that as a result of the
abuse,  she  had  gotten pregnant twice within five months. Both
times, her mothers fiancé had taken her to an abortion clinic in
Maryland,  where they checked in with their real names, ages and
addresses.  Despite  their two last names and an obvious 20-year
age  gap,  the man didnt claim to be her stepfather or any other
relative  he  merely reminded the girl to stick to the story hed
coached  her  on  all  week,  answered all the questions for her
during the counseling session and paid for the abortion in cash.

Five  months  later,  when  he took the 13-year-old back for the
second  abortion,  clinic  workers  recognized the pair and told
them  they didnt have to fill out all those forms again. But the
staff  didnt  call  the police or the state Department of Social
Services  to  report  a  suspected sexual abuse case, as the law
requires them to do.

In  late  June,  Bennett filed a civil lawsuit. It wasnt against
her  former  fiancé,  though  he  already  was  serving a 17- to
35-year sentence in a Pennsylvania state penitentiary.

This  lawsuit  was  filed  in  Maryland,  against  the  National
Abortion  Federation, for helping cover up the crimes of the man
who raped her daughter.

                        A veil of silence

JoAnne  Bennett  isnt  alone.  The  results  of a 10-month sting
operation  conducted  by  Life  Dynamics,  Inc. (LDI) a pro-life
organization  based  in Denton, Texas show that abortion clinics
have  their  own  interests  at heart when dealing with pregnant
girls under the age of consent.

Though  laws  defining  it  vary  widely,  all  50  states  list
statutory rape as a prosecutable offense one health care workers
are  nearly  always  required to report. To find out if abortion
clinics  uphold  those  laws,  Life Dynamics hired a 23-year-old
woman  to  call  800  Planned  Parenthood  Federation of America
(PPFA)  and National Abortion Federation (NAF) facilities around
the  country,  posing  as a 13-year-old girl seeking an abortion
who didnt want her parents to find out she was having sex with a
22-year-old man.

According  to Life Dynamics President Mark Crutcher, the results
were  shocking:  91 percent of the clinic workers said they were
required  by  law to report the statutory rape, but then assured
her  they  wouldnt.  Most  advised the caller not to mention her
boyfriends  age  when she checked in for the abortion, so no one
would  ask  her any questions. Several warned shed already given
them too much information and if she came to them, theyd have to
report  it  but  then  gave her the number of another clinic and
instructed  her  to  either  keep  quiet  or  lie  about the age
difference. A few even said that if she showed up with the right
amount  of  cash,  she  and  her boyfriend could be any age they
wanted.

This is going on all over the country, and Planned Parenthood is
providing  the  protection  for  these pedophiles, Crutcher told
Citizen. Were going through this national tragedy right now with
the  Catholic  church,  and my view is that anybody who protects
pedophiles  goes to jail. I dont care who they are but right now
the  only  people  we  seem  to  be  interested  in are Catholic
priests. Planned Parenthood workers seem to be immune.

Ironically,  Crutcher  said,  it  was the abortion industry that
first noticed the trend of adult men impregnating underage girls
in  increasing  numbers,  starting  about  10 years ago. A study
published  in 1995 by the Alan Guttmacher Institute the research
arm  of  Planned  Parenthood  documented  what  abortion  clinic
workers  were  seeing.  The  Centers  for  Disease  Control  and
Prevention,  several  peer-reviewed medical journals and Planned
Parenthoods  internal  data  have corroborated the evidence over
the  years. In 1998, former Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders wrote
in  the  Journal  of  the American Medical Association that over
half  of  all  infants  born  to women younger than 18 years are
fathered  by  adult  men,  with  40 percent of 15-year-old girls
having  infants  with  partners  aged  20  years or older. . . .
Research  suggests  that the younger the mother, the greater the
partner age gap.

But  instead  of helping to solve that problem by upholding laws
requiring  health  care  workers  to  report  sexual  abuse, the
abortion  lobby  has  chosen to spend its energy finding ways to
get  around  them  and  keep teenage girls coming through clinic
doors,  no  matter who their partners were. In some states, they
are  aided  by  laws that narrowly define sexual abuse as an act
committed  by a parent or immediate family member meaning clinic
workers  dont  always  have  to report older boyfriends. But for
workers  in  states where that is illegal, there is K. Kaufmanns
1997  publication,  The Abortion Resource Handbook, which offers
not    only    detailed    advice   on   how   to   get   around
parental-notification   and   informed-consent  laws,  but  also
includes  interviews  with  abortion  clinic workers on how they
circumvent  reporting laws in their states. And in 1999, Planned
Parenthood  published  a  tutorial  for  girls wanting healthier
sexual  relationships  with  older  men called Unequal Partners:
Teaching about Power and Consent in Adult-Teen Relationships.

Crutcher pointed out that the tactics outlined in Kaufmanns book
are  virtually  identical to those his pseudo-13-year-old caller
encountered  on  the  phone  five  years  later.  And  that,  he
believes, is no coincidence.

Their  [legal]  exposure in this thing is monumental, he said of
the  abortion industry. They cant afford to change. They realize
if   it  becomes  public  knowledge  that  they  adhere  to  the
state-mandated  reporting  laws, these girls will quit coming to
them.  So  they  can  abide by the law and lose one of their big
profit centers or protect the profit center and violate the law.

The  question  is,  will  our  culture allow them to protect the
profit and violate the law?

                      A financial incentive

Planned Parenthood and the NAF had little to say to the media in
the  wake  of  the  Life  Dynamics report. PPFA President Gloria
Feldt,  while  denying not one detail of Crutchers charges, told
the  Associated  Press  that  Life  Dynamics is trying to damage
Planned   Parenthood  and  also  eliminate  reproductive  health
services in this country. Theyll use any tactics they can. . . .
[PPFA workers are trying to] provide callers with what Id call a
comfort level.

Interestingly,   Feldts   implication   that  LDI  gathered  its
information   dishonestly  echoes  the  complaints  of  pro-life
activists  after  the  National Abortion and Reproductive Rights
Action  League  (NARAL)  published  a  field guide on how to use
undercover  means to smear pregnancy resource centers (see Prime
Target,  January  2002  Citizen,  page  22). Is there an ethical
difference  between  what  NARAL  encouraged activists to do and
Life Dynamics sting operation?

I  can  see how from some peoples perspective, it wouldnt be any
different,  said  Julie Parton, director of Focus on the Familys
Pregnancy  Resource  Ministry.  One  difference, though, is that
abortion  clinics are making money off their deception, while we
in  the  crisis  pregnancy center world are not making any money
from  trying  to  reveal the truth. The reason they were sending
undercover  agents  into  CPCs  is because we were hurting their
bottom  line.  We dont have one, so its not a financial interest
that prompts us.

While  there  is  always a possibility that a pregnancy resource
center  is  as guilty of not reporting statutory rape as Planned
Parenthood  seems  to  be,  Kurt  Entsminger, vice president and
general counsel for the pregnancy resource center chain CareNet,
doesnt think its likely.

One  thing that distinguishes our centers from the other side is
that we want to emphasize the importance of parental involvement
and  encourage  minors  to take the appropriate steps to end the
relationship,   and,   when  appropriate,  that  authorities  be
notified,   Entsminger   told   Citizen.  From  a  philosophical
standpoint, we come at this issue from opposite directions. Even
though pregnancy centers promise confidentiality, they make that
promise  subsequent  to  any laws or moral responsibilities that
apply.

To  date,  the  ripple  effects  of  Life Dynamics survey havent
spread  too  far  from  the center. A few national media outlets
most  notably the Fox News Channel and WorldNetDaily reported it
when  the results were released in May. A Connecticut television
station,  still  reeling  from the shock of seeing a 75-year-old
man  arrested after impregnating a 10-year-old Bridgeport girl a
month  earlier,  picked up the study and ran with it calling the
same  clinics  and  finding  workers  with the same names of the
people on the incriminating LDI tapes.

As  a  result,  Jack Bailey, Connecticuts chief states attorney,
met with local Planned Parenthood administrators June 12 to give
them  a refresher course on what they can and cant tell underage
callers.  At  about the same time, Nebraska Attorney General Don
Stenberg  asked  his  states  Department  of  Health  and  Human
Services  to conduct its own investigation of Planned Parenthood
clinics.

But  so far, no criminal suits have been filed, and left-leaning
news  organizations  havent  touched  the  story a fact that has
stuck in the craw of Gregory Hession, a Massachusetts lawyer who
specializes  in  defending families against false allegations of
child abuse.

Where  are  the feminists? Where is NOW? Hession asked. Why have
there  not  been  articles  in The New York Times and Washington
Post  about  all  these  girls  who are being abused? The priest
pedophilia  is  just  a  fraction of what Planned Parenthood has
enabled.

                      Impending implosion?

What  Crutcher  would  ultimately  like to see happen is a tidal
wave  of  civil suits like JoAnne Bennetts come crashing down on
Planned  Parenthood and other abortion providers that circumvent
the  law  for profit. If the Catholic church can pay millions in
damages  to sexual abuse victims for covering up the crimes of a
few  priests, Crutcher figures Planned Parenthood which attracts
at  least  450,000  teenage  girls  each year is exposed to even
greater liability.

Were  going  to  take their failure and use it to compensate the
victims,  said  LDI attorney Ed Zielinski. Theyre trying to hide
behind this special status they believe they have that puts them
above  the  law.  But  all the law we need is on the books right
now.

As  Citizen  went to press, Crutcher planned to send information
to  each  of  the nations 16,000 school districts, alerting them
that  if  they allow Planned Parenthood to provide sex-education
seminars  to  students, they could be named as parties in future
lawsuits.

With  that  tsunami still miles out at sea, though, Crutcher and
his  team are trying to compile their decades worth of data into
a  format  useful  to  prosecutors. The covert calls to abortion
clinics  made  in  Texas,  which does not require callers to get
permission before taping phone conversations are legal to use as
evidence in 31 of the 50 states.

But  since  there is no uniform law regarding the age of consent
and  mandatory reporting, it will take some grassroots effort to
get the ball rolling.

Ed  Szymkowiak,  national  director  of  STOPP International, an
organization aimed at opposing Planned Parenthood, urged parents
to  get  a copy of LDIs report into the hands of their local law
enforcement  officials,  child  protective  services  officials,
political leaders and school officials. Ask that they prosecute,
defund  and  remove  an organization which is not fulfilling its
legal obligation to report child abuse and statutory rape.

But  Entsminger  points  out  the  process  wont be that simple,
thanks to vagaries in the reporting laws.

In terms of legal responsibility, the first part of the equation
is:  Is  Planned  Parenthood a mandatory reporter? The answer is
probably  yes,  he  explained.  In  some  states, child abuse is
defined  broadly  enough  to  include any kind of sexual contact
with  a  minor, so if youre in one of those states and a medical
facility  doesnt  report  it,  you have a clear-cut case. But in
other  states,  thats much more of a gray area, whether they did
something wrong.

Parents  interested  in  finding  ways to make use of LDIs study
locally   can   start  with  research  at  the  community  Child
Protective Services Department: Find out what the age of consent
is  in  your state, how the law defines reportable abuse, who is
required to report that abuse and to whom. Many states define it
as  physical, mental or sexual abuse period, but others stratify
who  potential  abusers might be for example, parents, guardians
or  immediate  family  members. Some states are more inclined to
prosecute older boyfriends than others.

Once violations have been clearly identified, district attorneys
most  likely  will  take  an  interest in investigating, Hession
said.

Most of them are pretty intent on prosecuting statutory rape, he
said.  I really think that justice for its own sake to honor God
and validate His justice is important as a signal to people that
the  state  is  going  to,  in  essence,  be  an arbiter of Gods
justice.  It  was  set  up to do that. It doesnt do it very well
anymore. But for attorneys who want to see their work be part of
that bigger work, this is a requirement.

Not  everybody  has  the  privilege or opportunity to bring that
about.  Its  up to those whove been entrusted with a law license
to see this done.

TAKE ACTION: For a free copy of the Life Dynamics report, log on
to   www.ldi.org   or   the   groups  new  Web  site,  www.Child
Predators.com; or call 940- 380-8800.

Contact STOPP International, another group committed to fighting
Planned  Parenthood, at P.O. Box 1350, Stafford, VA 22555; phone
540-659-4171.
___________________

This  article  appeared  in  Citizen  magazine. Copyright © 2002
Focus   on   the  Family.  All  rights  reserved.  International
copyright secured.
 
 

N.Y. hospitals to deny choice on abortion training

     http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020528-41691488.htm

                          May 28, 2002

NEW YORK (AP) In an effort to prevent a feared shortage of abortion
providers, the nation's largest public hospital system plans to make
abortion training a required part of its curriculum for medical residents.

Pro-choice advocates say they hope for a ripple effect as other hospital
systems emulate the city and New York-trained doctors move to other
states.

But pro-life groups accuse the city which trains one-seventh of the
nation's doctors of trying to force abortion into the medical mainstream.

Starting in July, abortion training for obstetrics and gynecology
(ob-gyn) residents in New York's 11 public hospitals will become part
of the required curriculum, rather than a generally bypassed elective.

Unless they opt out on moral or religious grounds, all residents will
learn the latest abortion procedures, including use of the abortion-pill
mifepristone and other techniques requiring neither anesthesia nor an
operating room.

If the program thrives, "we'll have changed the face of abortion
provision in this country," said Christina Page of the New York branch
of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. "It's
going to make other programs question how they're delivering this care."

The New York State Right to Life Committee has accused Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, the Republican who approved the initiative, of trying to
"shove child-killing down our throats." The committee has warned of
"devastating" consequences as New York-trained ob-gyn residents start
practices across the country.

Olivia Gans of the National Right to Life Committee criticized New York
for obligating residents to "opt out" of abortion training rather than
"opt in."

"You put the onus on a young doctor to be brave enough to stand out from
the pack," she said.

Nationally, however, Miss Gans predicted abortion won't become widely
practiced by the next generation of doctors. Technological advances such
as ultrasound are convincing medical students that fetuses are indeed
living beings who should not be aborted, she said.

"The knowledge available now has made young doctors reluctant to go
into abortion, because that would mean ending one of their two patients'
lives," Miss Gans said.

New York's initiative may bring little short-term change to largely rural
states with few abortion facilities. Planned Parenthood says about 85
percent of U.S. counties don't have abortion providers.

A more likely impact of the New York program, pro-choice activists say,
will be to expand the national pool of abortion providers. Of the roughly
2,000 doctors who now perform abortions, more than half are over 50 and
many are nearing retirement.

About 150 ob-gyn residents rotate annually though New York's public
hospitals, and abortion-rights groups hope the new program will inspire
other residency programs to expand abortion training. At present, most
ob-gyn residency programs don't require abortion training, though many
offer it as an elective.

Lois Backus, executive director of Medical Students for Choice, said
many medical students are pressing residency programs to make the
training mandatory.

"On a 120-hour-a week schedule, there's just not any energy to pursue
an elective," she said.

About 1.3 million abortions are performed annually in the United States,
making abortion one of the nation's most common surgical procedures.

Dr. Allan Rosenfield, dean of Columbia University's School of Public
Health, estimated that 15 percent of ob-gyn residents might refuse
abortion instruction for reasons of conscience. For the others, he said,
"no procedure should be singled out as not part of the training."
 
 
 

     http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020510-25256488.htm

                          May 10, 2002
Child sex book given out at U.N. summit
                       By George Archibald
                      THE WASHINGTON TIMES

NEW YORK -- A UNICEF-funded book being passed out at the United Nations
Child Summit encourages children to engage in sexual activities with
other minors and with homosexuals and animals.

As the delegations to the summit remain deadlocked on abortion,
international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that support the U.S.
delegation's anti-abortion stance circulated copies of pages from a
UNICEF-funded book given to delegates from Latin America that promotes
sexual activity and abortion among teens in their countries.

"Reproductive health includes the following components: Counseling on
sexuality, pregnancy, methods of contraception, abortion, infertility,
infections and diseases," says the Spanish-language book, whose title
translates to "Theoretic Elements for Working with Mothers and Pregnant
Teens."

An accompanying workshop book produced by the U.N. Children's Fund
(UNICEF) tells Latin American mothers and teens: "Situations in which you
can obtain sexual pleasure: 1. Masturbation. 2. Sexual relations with
a partner whether heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. 3. A sexual
response that is directed toward inanimate objects, animals, minors,
non-consenting persons."

The book, which was distributed by the Mexican government with
U.N. funding, suggests lesbian sex as an acceptable alternative for girls.

"Sexual relations with a partner: Here we should insist there is no
ideal or perfect relations between two or several people," the book
says. "The one that gives us the most satisfaction and that which is
adopted to our way of being and the style of life we have chosen. This
is why we encounter many differences among women. Some women like to
have relations with men. And others with another woman."

UNICEF spokesman Alfred Ironside acknowledged U.N. funding for the book,
but said it was produced by the Mexican government in 1999 and pulled
from circulation "when the content was more carefully reviewed."

Mr. Ironside said he did not know how many of the books were
circulated. "A very small number were produced fewer than a thousand,"
he said. "It was pulled out of circulation when the content was more
carefully reviewed."

"That book was a product of the Mexican government, supported by UNICEF
financially as part of UNICEF's support to the Mexican government,"
Mr. Ironside said.

"We do everything we do in full agreement with the governments we support.
We do not operate independently," he said.

He said the book was "intended as a training manual for people working
with adolescent women to prevent teen pregnancy. That publication was a
compilation of articles by different contributors and has a very clear
disclaimer in the front that the views of the writers do not necessarily
reflect the views of the United Nations."

The workshop book is being passed out by anti-abortion NGOs to persuade
delegates from the large Latin American bloc of countries called the
Rio Group to support the U.S. proposal to remove ambiguous language
from the child-summit action document, which has been used in the past
by U.N. agencies to promote abortion.

Delegations to the U.N. Child Summit remained deadlocked yesterday in
closed-door negotiations over abortion and other hot-button issues that
have held up final agreement on a U.N. action agenda to protect the
world's children.

The U.S. delegation, praised by pro-family groups for standing firm to
ensure the agenda does not sanction continued U.N. promotion of abortions,
was attacked by NGO critics for a second day at an afternoon briefing,
NGO members at the meeting said.

Douglas Sylva, an official with the Catholic Family and Human Rights
Institute, called the briefing "an NGO feeding frenzy," in which the
United States was attacked for its position on the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict; arms sales to allies; the Bush administration's support of
capital punishment; and U.S. failure to ratify the U.N. Convention on
the Rights of the Child.

"The fact that the United States is the only country besides Somalia
that has not ratified [the] child's rights [convention] is shocking,"
said Paula Daeppen, director in Zurich for the Federation of American
Women's Clubs Overseas.

"We're supposed to be a moral leader of the world and child friendly,"
she said.

Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, Texas Democrat, told the meeting she applauded
the administration's work to protect children from pornography,
exploitation and "child soldiering." But she said she disagreed with
the U.S. delegation on some issues.

"There needs to be flexibility on life," she said an apparent reference
to the administration's strong anti-abortion stance. A person close to
the congresswoman, who asked to remain anonymous, said her remarks were
intended to urge "more flexibility on family planning."

Abortion is not mentioned directly in the draft child-summit document,
but UNICEF, which organized the 187-country special session of the
General Assembly, and the U.N. Fund for Population Activities, interpret
the ambiguous phrase "reproductive health services" to include abortion.

A senior Canadian negotiator told delegates in earlier preparatory
meetings that the term includes abortion, prompting the Bush
administration to start pushing for the alternate term "reproductive
health care."

European countries, with the exception of Spain, along with Canada,
Japan and New Zealand oppose the U.S. position. Muslim nations and some
African countries also support the United States.

The Rio Group, whose delegations say their predominantly Catholic
populations don't condone abortion, said there is no danger the term
"reproductive health services" will be used to promote abortions in
Latin America.