Missing the point in the debate over sex ed.

*cross posted on Amplify**
A time magazine article titled How to Bring An End to the War Over Sex Ed. argues that the debate over abstinince-only sex education and comprehensive sex ed is missing the point:

Later this spring, Congress will dive once more into the war over sex education when it decides whether to eliminate $176 million in federal funding for so-called abstinence-only programs, which instruct kids to delay sex until marriage. Advocates will debate at top volume the merits of abstinence-only efforts vs. more comprehensive programs that also teach about birth control and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

These arguments miss the point. We now have a pretty good sense of which sex-education approaches work. Substantial research--including a 2007 Bush Administration report--has concluded that comprehensive programs are most effective at changing teen sexual behaviors. They are also largely uncontroversial outside Washington. Vast majorities of parents favor teaching comprehensive sex education.

I think this article is spot on. I have never been completely satisfied with the debate about this important issue, because no one seems to be asking the right questions.

I have heard politicians asking if comprehensive sex ed. will promote homosexuality. I've heard politicians ask if they can get re-elected if they support comprehensive sex education. I've heard parents ask if teaching information about sexual health gives their kids permission to have sex. I've even heard a clown, derek the abstinence clown, asking middle schoolers if they want to throw their dreams away, because that is that having pre-marital sex will do to you.

I don't want this to be about politics, I don't want it to be about religion, and I don't want a clown teaching me sex ed. What people need to start asking is “what works?” What is the most effective way to keep our teens healthy and safe? There is only one answer, and that is comprehensive sex education. Young people who have had an evidence-based, comprehensive sex education program start having sex later in life, have sex with fewer partners, have a lower incidence of mixing alcohol and drugs with sex, use proper protection if they do decide to have sex, and have a significant reduction of STI's and unwanted pregnancy.