AMA: No Evidence that Abstinence Sex Ed Works --It is past time that

[rodeodance]

the AMA stepped up to the plate!!


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,140823,00.html

AMA: No Evidence that Abstinence Sex Ed Works
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
By Peggy Peck


The American Medical Association says the federal government should not spend money on community-based sex education programs unless it has solid scientific evidence that the programs work, a position that would eliminate many abstinence-only programs.

The new AMA policy puts the doctor group at odds with the Bush administration, which just last week reaffirmed its support of abstinence-only based programs. But AMA president-elect J. Edward Hill, MD, a family physician from Tupelo, Miss., tells WebMD that the issue is too important to back any sex education curriculum that is not evidence-based.

“The cost of teenage pregnancy — from the cost of prenatal care to the cost of caring for babies born to teens — is outrageous, not to mention the public health consequences of sexually transmitted diseases. Given those facts the AMA is compelled to take a stand on this issue,” Hill says.

The evidence shows that abstinence-only programs don’t work for all adolescents and these programs don’t work in all settings, says Hill. He says that the AMA wants the federal government to fund only programs that have evidence of solid results......

[dethl]

1. YAY!

Too bad my hometown probably won't listen to this and keep preaching their crap to the kids. Then again, with Bush's call for more absinance sex-ed teaching, this report will probably vanish into the night.

[stevebreeze]

2. If we don't tell our kids about sex in school...they won't know it exists!

At least that seems to be the abstinent only theory of sex ed.

[TaleWgnDg]

13. "abstinence only" is bunk . . . backed by religious hyperbole . . .

and complete ignorance.

Are you aware that the highest out-of-marriage birth rate is in the Bible Belt?
Are you aware that the highest divorce rate is in the Bible Belt?
Are you aware that the highest rate of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) is the Bible Belt?
(And these contradictions, herein enumerated, are merely the tip of the crap these folks push.)

The "fundie" rightwing "Christian" Jesus-speak is bogus as to "moral values" "family values" or any other crazy tag that they try to push upon others. It doesn't work for them. And they have one hell of a nerve trying to push this crap upon America!



.

[stevebreeze]

16. of course the real reason for the fundies lies is to insure the

supremacy of the sperm. Once a mans sperm hits a womens body, she has to cede all reproductive control to the man. Rapist? Incest? don't matter, a mans been able to set sperm in a woman so she has to carry the dumb fucks fetus to birth.

[specter]

3. Im completely

outraged!!! You mean that the normal biology of a mammal can be circumvented by the right-wing christian idealogy. Damn and I really believed that I could tell my 13 year old that masterbation would make him blind and send him straight to hell just like my parents did, well i do wear glasses but....oh hell never mind. and for those who cant tell "</sarcasm>" :)

[Erika]

4. When Will The Right-Wingers Learn?

Nancy Reagan's just say "no" to drugs and then this.

The key is acceptance that the situation exists, then discussion and education, is what is effective.

What planet do right-wingers live on?

[specter]

5. A very

VERY boring one :evilgrin:

[Trillo]

6. The AMA was a huge Republican donator.

75% if I remember correctly. Has anyone mentioned WalMart and the AMA in the same activist boycotts?

They give lipservice to democrats, and MONEY to republicans. Just listen to their argument: "The cost of teenage...." It's all about money.

Gotta keep the pharmaprofits and Dr. visits for scripts running smoothly!

[IHeart1993]

7. If we don't teach them in school...

... they learn it on the street. And on the street they can learn about unwanted pregnacies and then get their abortions on the street.

[ThorsHammer]

8. I still don't see how the far right think

I can't see how any person with any logical ability can oppose common sense sex ed, which teaches both abstinence (as the only 100$ method) AND contraception. It really seems like an 'ostritch' approach to teach abstinence only, assume it will work, and ignore both common sense and stats that say otherwise.

[NuttyFluffers]

15. keyword: logical

they do not possess logical ability.

they are either, as Hsun Tzu would say, ignorant man-beasts, or, as I would say, death cult zealots. feel free to make sense of it yourself, but the options are pretty limited.

[American Tragedy]

9. Is this abstinence-only ed a fairly recent development?

Because when I was in school during the mid-late nineties, in the South no less, I sure as hell didn't hear a doctrine like that.

[ThorsHammer]

10. I think so, from my knowledge it's a theocon thing (nt)

[TaleWgnDg]

11. Are you telling me that Bush's JUNK SCIENCE is bunk?

Indeed.

The scientific community has been saying (QUITE LOUDLY TOO) that Bush pushes *junk science* throughout his Administration. The scientists do not desire to get political. Instead, scientists want to inform the American public that what Bush is pushing is not fact, is not truth, and may be harmful to the American public and the environment . . .

Am glad that the AMA has stated this in writing. After all, the AMA represents many in medical science.





Edited to add this recent Boston Globe newspaper article excerpts:

"(S)cientists band(ed) together to oppose the reelection of George W. Bush, charging that his administration had systematically abused and manipulated scientific information on a variety of issues and let narrow religious concerns get in the way of potentially life-saving embryonic stem cell research . . . " (emphasis added)
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2004/11/21/science_wars/

Read the entire article . . . it's a damn good informative read.



. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[Trillo]

12. Figured I'd add a citation for the hypocrisy of the AMA

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.asp?Ind=H01

AMA ranked #1 as a top contributor-->77% to republicans.

Now if they're so against "junk science", then why the deep funding of the group promoting junk science? And why now come out and claim the policies they helped to fund are flawed?

It seems to me that the AMA has indicted their own testimony. Which is the truth? Their words? Or their money flow?

[TaleWgnDg]

14. Uuummm . . . you are mixing apples and oranges . . .

The AMA is a professional organization of M.D.s. It is not political organization. However, its members are not so restricted and may contribute to Republicans because they don't want universal healthcare coverage in America or they don't want whatever the hell Democrats are pushing politically that M.D.s assume will hit them in their own pocketbook. Thus, MDs may vote and contribute to any candidate's campaign fundings w/i the law same as anyone else.

However, the AMA is ethically charged to reveal stuff that may be harmful to the American public about medical science. Therefore, here, the AMA is stating that a federal public policy which is supposed to help the American public, is not. Instead, the federal public policy and federal actions are doing the exact opposite -- it is harming the American public. The Hippocratic Oath states that MDs shall do no harm . . .

That's why. Okay? Good.

edited to add: READ YOUR OWN URL HYPERLINK contents . . . it states clearly and emphatically:

"METHODOLOGY: The numbers on this page are based on contributions from PACs, soft money donors, and individuals giving $200 or more. (Only those groups giving $5,000 or more are listed here.) In many cases, the organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates"
(emphasis added by TaleWgnDg)