Abstinence

CHICAGO - An experimental abstinence-only program without a moralistic tone can delay teens from having sex, a provocative study found. Billed as the first rigorous research to show long-term success with an abstinence-only approach, the study differed from traditional programs that have lost federal and state support in recent years. Two years into the study, about one-third of abstinence-only students said they'd had sex since the classes ended, versus nearly half - about 49 percent - in each of the other three groups.

When Samuel Bierman and Zachary Snitzer opened Maryland Addiction Recovery Center last January, they'd done their homework. The co-founders knew they wanted to be in Maryland, particularly Baltimore County. But they chose Towson, where their center is located at 110 West Road, for a few reasons. "It's centralized, and easy to reach," said Bierman, executive director, "and the biggest group needing help are 15-to-30 year-olds. That's a major demographic in this area," a reference to the local college scene.

BOSTON -- I have always had a soft spot for the folks who preach abstinence. For one thing, I like their rap lines. You know, ''Pet Your Dog, Not Your Date.'' ''Do the Right Thing, Wait for the Ring.''And I can join in lamenting the number of kids who start having sex far too young and far too unhappily with far too many consequences. Do teens need help saying no when all the messages around them, from media to partners, are saying yes, yes, yes? Do they need adults to talk with them about waiting?

From graffiti on buses ("Virgin. Teach your kids it's not a dirty world") to posters of chickens in tennis shoes ("What do you call a guy who makes a baby, then flies the coop?") to the heart-rending pleas of real teens ("Mom. Dad. Talk to me. I need you now. "), Baltimore's Campaign for Our Children has for a quarter century brought the polished skills of Madison Avenue to the problem of teen pregnancy. Through its symbiotic relationship with the successful ad agency Richardson, Myers and Donofrio, now Carton Donofrio Partners, the campaign was also able to leverage the agency's media relationships into free space on buses and billboards and free time on the airwaves.

In the renewed debate about AIDS following Magic Johnson's announcement that he has tested HIV positive, a majority of callers to SUNDIAL (162 out of 279 respondents, or 58 percent) say they tell their children that abstinence is the preferred precaution against the AIDS virus.The remainder, 117 callers, said they emphasize education and safe sex."It's Your Call" represents a sampling of opinions from certain segments of the community, but it is not balanced demographically as would be done in a scientific public opinion poll.

WASHINGTON -- Maryland Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski was among 14 Democratic senators who urged the Bush administration yesterday to dismiss an abstinence advocate who has been named to a federal family planning post. Mikulski signed a letter protesting last week's appointment of Dr. Eric Keroack and asking the administration to withdraw it. "Unfortunately, this appointment is another example of the Administration allowing ideology to trump science, and it could jeopardize vital services on which large numbers of women and families depend," the senators wrote.

I never was much for charity. Oh, I pass coins to panhandlers now and then, but I never give at the office; there's something about that whole procedure that puts me off. A few dollars a week ticked from my check, it seems so removed, so bureaucratized. There's none of the warm feeling of superiority that direct contact with the object of one's charity usually returns. The way I see it, if I'm going to make a sacrifice I want to get something for it.This doesn't reveal cynicism so much as an understanding of the true impulse behind most giving.

BOSTON - I hate to bring this up right now, when the ink is barely dry on your New Year's resolution. But if history is any guide, you are likely to fall off the assorted wagons to which you are currently lashed. I don't say this to disparage your willpower. Hang onto that celery stick for dear life. And even if you stop doing those stomach crunches and start sneaking out for a smoke, at least you can comfort yourself with fond memories of your moment of resolution. Compare that with the statistic in the newest research about teens who pledge abstinence.

THE BUSH administration appears to be throwing good money after bad in funding for abstinence-only programs nationwide. Studies of the effectiveness of abstinence-only education show that the courses do not appear to decrease teen pregnancy or the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Yet the government has increased funding for these programs by more than 50 percent since 2001, spending about $170 million over that time. Eleven of 13 federally funded abstinence-only programs conducted in communities and schools in 25 states provide adolescents with false and misleading information about reproductive health, a report says.

BOSTON -- There was a time when only the loony left believed that the loony right favored death over sex. Not anymore. If you've been engrossed in the culture-war correspondence on the judicial front, maybe you missed the news on the medical front. While the religious right escorted Harriet Miers out and welcomed Samuel A. Alito Jr. in, a group of scientists announced the beginning of the end of a deadly cancer. In clinical trials, a new vaccine was 100 percent successful in preventing the virus that causes most cervical cancer, the second-leading cancer killer of women in the world.

Much has been made of Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's views about sexual abstinence, including that masturbation is against evangelical values. However unrealistic her views on such matters, these statements alone don't preclude her from being a good senator. Unfortunately, other statements of hers do. Abstinence is unrealistic and cannot be the basis for federal policy. Federal data indicate that fewer than 10 percent of Americans abstain from sex before marriage.

CHICAGO - An experimental abstinence-only program without a moralistic tone can delay teens from having sex, a provocative study found. Billed as the first rigorous research to show long-term success with an abstinence-only approach, the study differed from traditional programs that have lost federal and state support in recent years. Two years into the study, about one-third of abstinence-only students said they'd had sex since the classes ended, versus nearly half - about 49 percent - in each of the other three groups.

It's a paradox worthy of the federal government: Abstinence-only education inhibits the effective promotion of abstinence. It is possible to keep teens abstinent, at least temporarily. More than a dozen programs have been shown, in peer-reviewed studies, to delay teen sex. For example, the Becoming a Responsible Teen program helped low-income African-American teenagers in Mississippi both to delay sex and to have safer sex, and its effects were visible one year later: Only 12 percent of sexually inexperienced participants became sexually active, compared with 31 percent in the comparison group.

BOSTON - I hate to bring this up right now, when the ink is barely dry on your New Year's resolution. But if history is any guide, you are likely to fall off the assorted wagons to which you are currently lashed. I don't say this to disparage your willpower. Hang onto that celery stick for dear life. And even if you stop doing those stomach crunches and start sneaking out for a smoke, at least you can comfort yourself with fond memories of your moment of resolution. Compare that with the statistic in the newest research about teens who pledge abstinence.

President Bush has proudly increased the funding for abstinence-only sex education programs since taking office. He is pushing Congress for an additional $28 million for 2008 to add to the $175 million spent last year. Now comes the news that for the first time in 14 years, the birth rate for American teenagers increased last year. A coincidence? Only those who still believe in the stork think so. The Bush administration should bear the blame for the inevitable consequences of the 3 percent increase in the teen birth rate: a growing number of teen moms who will not finish high school and who will likely end up on welfare.

WASHINGTON -- In the 1990s, amid a growing so-called culture war over the role of religion and morality in public policy, Republicans used their congressional majorities to crank up funding for programs that encouraged teens to abstain from sex until marriage. But now, even though Democrats have taken over Congress, so-called abstinence-only programs are surviving attempts to shut them down. And they could even get an increase with the aid of an unlikely ally -- Rep. David R. Obey, one of the old liberal lions.

Responding to pressure from conservative parent groups, the Howard County school board unanimously approved a revised sex education course for ninth-graders last night that strongly advocates sexual abstinence for teen-agers.The revised curriculum, which will be introduced next year, also encourages sexually active teen-agers to reconsider abstinence -- a so-called second virginity.Despite the reservations of some parents, the optional family life and human sexuality course will teach teen-agers about contraception and the use of condoms to prevent the transmission of acquired immune deficiency syndrome and other sexually transmitted diseases.

WASHINGTON -- An animated condom package leaps from a dresser drawer and shuffles its way across a darkened room, past a napping cat and onto a bed. As it squirms under the covers, a voice says "It would be nice if latex condoms were automatic. But since they're not, using them should be."The television advertisement was one of several unveiled yesterday, along with radio spots made by a rock star, as part of a new Clinton administration marketing campaign aimed at selling the idea of safe sex -- or abstinence -- to men and women aged 18 to 25.The ads, presented by the secretary of health, the White House national AIDS policy coordinator and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at a news conference, represent a marked change from the subtle public service announcements about AIDS of past administrations.

BOSTON -- I don't need to give the "D.C. Madam" story a whole lot more attention. I try to heed the words of the mother-of-us-all when judging the private lives of public people. Susan B. Anthony once said, "If a man's public record be a clear one, if he has kept his pledges before the world, I do not inquire what his private life may have been." But I do think even she would give me a dispensation on the subject of Randall L. Tobias. The deputy secretary of state resigned last week after admitting he was a client of the service described on the Web as "a high-end adult fantasy firm which offered legal sexual and erotic services."

When county eighth-graders take health next school year, they will hear the same message on sexual behavior that classes before them have been taught - abstinence - despite a proposal to introduce a unit on "family life and human sexuality." The unit comes out of Maryland's voluntary state curriculum objectives for health education, which include describing methods of contraception, their effectiveness and how they are used to prevent pregnancy and reduce the chances of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and AIDS.