Major Poll Shows Parents Back Abstinence Education  
SUMMARY: A new poll finds that the overwhelming majority
of moms and dads prefer their children be taught to remain
pure rather than how to use condoms.

The vast majority of American parents want their
children's sex-education classes to emphasize abstinence
until marriage, according to a new poll released today.

The survey, conducted by Zogby International for Focus on
the Family, also found that parents strongly oppose the
values and messages of comprehensive sex education, a
training model that assumes teens will become sexually
active and, therefore, must be given easy access to
condoms.

In fact, a significant majority of those surveyed believe
that sexual behavior is likely to lead to psychological,
emotional and physical problems for teens.

"This poll illustrates that the people most concerned
about the health and emotional well-being of America's
children -- their moms and dads -- recognize that
abstinence is the only surefire way to protect their
kids," said Linda Klepacki, manager of the abstinence
department at Focus on the Family. "As hard as the
comprehensive sex-education lobby has tried to sell its
'safe-sex' message, it's clear parents aren't buying it."

Klepacki announced the poll results at a Washington, D.C.,
news conference today, an event also attended by Dr. Wade
Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and U.S.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.

"It is gratifying to learn that parents agree with the
president that the primary message we should give our
children when it comes to sexual behavior is abstinence
until marriage," Horn said.

The survey of 1,008 parents of children under 17 featured
in-depth questions about the respondents' views of teenage
sexual behavior, the messages contained in sex-education
curricula and sexual activity as it pertains to human
relationships. Among its highlights were:

** Sixty-eight percent of parents want schools to teach
teens that individuals who remain abstinent until marriage
have the best chances of marital stability and happiness.
"Abstinence programs," Klepacki said, "support this theme
while comprehensive sex-ed classes seldom mention marriage
and do not criticize casual sex."

** Ninety-one percent want their children to be taught
that sex should be linked to the type of love and
commitment found in marriage. "Abstinence programs are
built upon this message, while comprehensive programs
present sex as a physical process," Klepacki explained.
"The highest aim for comprehensive programs is the
avoidance of STDs and unwanted pregnancy. Abstinence
programs aim teens toward an enriched life."

** More than 56 percent said information about
contraception should either not be taught as a subject or
taught in a class separate from abstinence, such as a
health or biology class.

** Only 39.9 percent thought abstinence and contraception
should be combined in a single class. But even on that
matter, only 2 percent thought sex education should focus
on teaching teens how to use condoms.

"That is a shocking number," Klepacki said, "because the
vast proportion of government programs in the past had as
their goal getting more teens to use more condoms. It is
clear that the public health establishment has been out of
step with the will of America's parents. Only with the
current administration has funding been dedicated to
abstinence."

The Heritage Foundation confirmed that conclusion in an
analysis of the Zogby report released at today's news
conference. The analysis noted that $4.50 was spent on
comprehensive sex education for every $1 spent on
abstinence education -- and still "multiple evaluations
show that abstinence programs are effective in encouraging
young people to delay sexual activity."

"The effectiveness of these programs is quite remarkable,
since they typically provide no more than a few hours of
instruction per year," the report stated. "In those few
hours, abstinence instructors seek to counteract thousands
of hours of annual exposure to sex-saturated teen media,
which strongly push teens in the opposite direction."

Why the discrepancy in funding, then, if abstinence
programs do indeed succeed in ways that condom-based
programs never have?

"This is a political hot potato nobody wants to make their
main issue, but these comprehensive sex-ed programs have a
huge lobbying voice from feminist groups and homosexual
activists," explained Melissa Pardue, a social policy
analyst and co-author of The Heritage Foundation's
analysis of Zogby's poll numbers. "While the abstinence
voice is growing, we're much newer to the scene. They've
been around for decades, screaming this message.
Abstinence started as a grass-roots effort, and the
safe-sex lobby gets a lot of money from Congress."

President Bush has pledged to close the funding gap,
promising in his State of the Union address last week to
double funding for abstinence education because it is "the
only certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases."

Congress is expected to vote this year on reauthorizing
federal abstinence-until-marriage education funding, and
Brownback said the poll results will help him and his
colleagues do the right thing.

"We should take a good look at the data presented today,"
he said. "It is clear from this study that most parents
want their children to be taught in different ways, and
that includes increased attention to abstinence
education."

Source: Focus On The Family

by Gary Schneeberger, editor