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Albuquerque Journal (US), January 13, 2005 Abstinence Program
Is Facing a Fight; Public-health workers ask
state to reject $500,000 in federal funding
Public health workers have launched an underground war against abstinence educators. They complain that those sex education programs give inaccurate information about condoms, undermining public health efforts to protect New Mexico youths from pregnancy and disease. Leaders at Best Choice Education Services, which offers abstinence education in Albuquerque Public Schools and others, deny that any of their information is inaccurate. And APS requires that its own teachers provide information about contraception during its sex education classes, which are taught in at least three grade levels. Still, Michelle Lujan Grisham, secretary-designate of the Department of Health, said this week that public health staffers have urged her to reject $500,000 that the federal government gives the department to pay contractors for abstinence education. She said she hasn't made up her mind on the matter. "I'm not sure about the right thing to do. I'm very open," she said. California is the only state that has rejected federal abstinence money. Both sides agree kids should be encouraged to abstain from sex. The dispute is about what message should be given to them about condoms. Grisham said she is committed to making sure any information given out through a state-funded program is accurate. "We will not permit, directly or by contract ... a nonfactual abstinence curriculum," she said. Public health workers have complained that abstinence educators downplay the effectiveness of condoms and overplay the ravages of sexually transmitted diseases. Mandi Dotson, peer monitoring director for Best Choice, counters, "It's not like we're saying, 'Don't have sex or you'll die.' They (public health workers) take it all out of proportion and blow it up." Changing message Best Choice, which receives $75,000 from the state, did make some changes in how it presented some information in response to a November public health review of abstinence curricula, she said. It amounted to changing some words. For example, instead of saying condoms offer "no protection" from a sexually transmitted virus, Best Choice now says they offer "limited" protection, she said. In addition to the $75,000 Best Choice receives from the Department of Health, it receives $536,000 in direct federal grants. At APS, students get classes on sex education at three levels: in fifth grade, in middle school and in high school, said Lynn Pedraza, the district's director of Health/Mental Health Services.. Pedraza said teachers are required to give students a balanced overview that includes information about contraception and abstinence. In addition to what APS teaches, Best Choice has been invited by 25 of Albuquerque's 120 public schools to give workshops on abstinence. In a Jan. 4 letter to APS Superintendent Elizabeth Everitt, Grisham said the abstinence educators' chapter on sexually transmitted diseases was inaccurate and shouldn't be taught in the schools. In turn, Everitt sent a memo to the schools Jan. 6 telling administrators not to allow outside contractors to teach material on sexually transmitted diseases. When Best Choice gives workshops, Pedraza said teachers must supplement those lessons. "The main reason we cover anything about condoms is because the kids ask," Dotson said of Best Choice's presentations. She said the information Best Choice uses comes from the National Institutes of Health or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "They say abstinence is the only 100 percent way, and there are no definitive conclusions that condoms can prevent most sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) or pregnancy," she said. Condoms vs. abstinence A 2001 review from the National Institutes of Health found condoms effective in some cases but also found that not enough data existed to prove condoms' effectiveness in most types of STDs, according to Dr. Steve Jenison, medical director of the state's STD/reproductive health clinic in Albuquerque. But an update published in a 2004 bulletin from the World Health Organization found condoms were effective in reducing most major STDs, Jenison said. Dotson said Best Choice doesn't give an effectiveness rate for condoms but simply stresses that abstinence is the only technique that is 100 percent effective. Dr. Bruce Trigg, medical director of public health's STD program in Albuquerque, said that approach doesn't take into account that most kids don't stick to abstinence. New Mexico surveys show 60 percent of high schoolers have had sex before graduating, and only 12 percent remain abstinent until marriage. "I see kids all the time who planned to be abstinent but come in to see me with an STD," he said. Young people who pledge abstinence delay their first sexual experience by about 18 months, he said, referring to a federal study. But once they do have sex, they contract STDs at a rate similar to youths who have had no sex education at all, he said. That's mainly because they are less likely to use condoms, according to Trigg. << Albuquerque Journal -- 1/13/05 >>
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