Abstinence Education

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Federal funding for abstinence education is on the rise: a proposed $191 million dollars for 2008, up $28 million from 2007. But recent studies are raising questions, finding no difference in sexual activity between kids with abstinence education and those without.

Proponents of abstinence say the studies are not reflective of the nearly 700 abstinence programs out there. And muddying the waters further is the fact that before the big push for abstinence and since 1991, teenage pregnancy and birth rates have been falling.

This hour On Point: we look at what's going on in Sex Ed.

Guests:

Claire Brindis, Professor at Department of Pediatrics and
Department of Obstetrics at University of California, San Francisco;
Freda Bush, Obstetrician/gynecologist in private practice and on the advisory board at the Medical Institute for Sexual Health;
Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood;
Jami Waite, teenager with Virginity Rules, run by The East Texas Abstinence Program