I certainly do wonder what drives the anti-abstinence crowd. I don't mean the general impetus — that's easy to give a name to — but the specific ideas of which they are in pursuit. To what degree is sex, per se, their motivation? Looking at the picture accompanying the Washington Post's article about the Rep. Henry Waxman's crusade against abstinence programs, I shudder to imagine lasciviousness as his motivation. Perhaps the true motivation is money; in one way or another, every profession from the entertainment biz to the welfare industry is invested in sex.
Some would surely object that Waxman is merely investigating the allocation of federal dollars to groups that misinform their young charges, and I'm sure he's managed to uncover legitimate errors in some materials somewhere, as well as suggestions with which he disagrees. Still, the degree of spin involved within such reports themselves and then, further, in the media raises the question of what one couldn't taint with the same treatment. On top of the highlighting of the absolute-worst findings, consider this sentence from Ceci Connolly's WaPo piece:
The report concluded that two of the curricula were accurate but the 11 others, used by 69 organizations in 25 states, contain unproved claims, subjective conclusions or outright falsehoods regarding reproductive health, gender traits and when life begins.
The previous paragraph explains that each curriculum is used in at least five programs, of unknown type. Washington Post readers have no way of knowing which are most egregious, how frequently those are used, which of the three types of flaws were discovered in each, what those flaws represented, or in what capacity the curricula are even used. Turning to the full report (PDF), for one example, we observe that an erroneous claim mentioned twice in the WaPo article, once in the very first paragraph — that half of gay teens are HIV positive — came from a misleading chart in a curriculum that just barely made the study. It was used by five organizations — precisely the arbitrary minimum chosen to achieve the arbitrary number of 13 "commonly used curricula."
As for the report itself, there's just too much that could be dissected to address, but here's one of my favorite bits:
Although religions and moral codes offer different answers to the question of when life begins, some abstinence-only curricula present specific religious views on this question as scientific fact. One curriculum teaches: "Conception, also known as fertilization, occurs when one sperm unites with one egg in the upper third of the fallopian tube. This is when life begins." Another states: "Fertilization (or conception) occurs when one of the father's sperm unites with the mother's ovum (egg). At this instant a new human life is formed."
First, note the glaring absence: the report explains that "religions and moral codes differ," but what does "scientific fact" have to say on the matter? I've found this to be among the most frustrating elements of the abortion debate; as a point of fact, the unique human life begins at conception. The organism formed at that time will move through various stages that together represent the human life.
But back to the boundaries of this report. We've just heard a complaint that the curriculum teaches a religious view, but if we back up a few pages, to the description of the groups that are using these curricula:
The eleven curricula are used in 25 states by 69 grantees, including state health departments, school districts, and hospitals, as well as religious organizations and pro-life organizations.
Stop the government! Religious and pro-life organizations are using materials that support a religious and pro-life worldview!
Here's another gem:
Instead, some of the curricula provide distorted information on cervical cancer, suggesting that it is a common consequence of premarital sex. For example, the teaching manual of one curriculum explicitly states: "It is critical that students understand that if they choose to be sexually active, they are at risk" for cervical cancer. Another curriculum asks, "What is the leading medical complication from HPV? Cervical cancer." Neither of these curricula mentions that human papilloma virus (HPV), though associated with most cases of cervical cancer, rarely leads to the disease, nor that cervical cancer is highly preventable when women get regular Pap smears.Other curricula advise that condoms have not been proven effective in blocking the transmission of HPV and that "no evidence" demonstrates condoms' effectiveness against HPV transmission. According to the CDC, however, evidence indicates that condoms do reduce the risk of cervical cancer itself, a fact which both curricula omit. These curricula also say nothing about the importance of Pap smears.
First paragraph: some curricula are wrong to suggest that HPV leads to cervical cancer. Second paragraph: other curricula are wrong to say that condoms prevent HPV transmission... because condoms do reduce the risk of cervical cancer... somehow.
Keep in mind, by the way, that all of the material for these curricula — from books to teachers' guides to accompanying newsletters — were pored over for this 22-page report. I spent a short while working in the textbook industry, and I'd suggest that a government-sponsored fact checker could produce at least that length report checking any dozen curricula on any given topic. That would include, as implied by Emily of After Abortion, the "standard obstetrics textbook" that supposedly proves wrong a claim about abortion and infertility.
An interesting tangential question is how weighty a report a government probe could accumulate fact checking the mainstream media. Here's Ms. Connolly:
Nonpartisan researchers have been unable to document measurable benefits of the abstinence-only model. Columbia University researchers found that although teenagers who take "virginity pledges" may wait longer to initiate sexual activity, 88 percent eventually have premarital sex.
Actually, as I discovered back in March, that 88% of abstinence-pledgers who fornicate corresponds with 99% of non-pledgers who fornicate. One wonders whether the cause of researchers' difficulty measuring benefits is the person wielding the ruler.
Representative Joe Pitts only gets it partly right: Waxman's study was ideologically driven, but the Washington Post and other media groups probably weren't naive in their touting of it. They've products to sell, after all, and a worldview of their own to bolster.
Posted by Justin Katz at December 4, 2004 2:21 AMInteresting post, thank you very much for this analysis and the trackback.
I am amazed at the report's claim that "some abstinence-only curricula present specific religious views on this question as scientific fact" and that it defines those "religious definitions" as "Conception is the start of human life."
It isn't a religious definition, it's a scientific one.
It's another classic case of politicians wrongly being influenced by the media (didn't Kerry once admonish Bush "Doesn't he watch the 6 o'clock news"?): "On April 23-24, 1981, a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee (S-158) held hearings on the question, 'When does human life begin?' At that consultation, a large group of internationally known physicians, biologists, and other scientists agreed that human life begins at conception. The Official Senate report summarized, 'there is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings.' Pro-choice supporters, instead, failed to produce even a single expert who confirmed their...thesis." ~ quotes and info found here http://orgs.unt.edu/efl/Sec4.html and referenced also here, http://www.apologeticspress.org/inthenews/2003/itn-03-17.htm , from "East, John (1981), Report of the Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to Senate Judiciary Committee [S-158], 97th Congress, first session."
These were Waxman's own colleagues hearing this, on the other side of D.C. Most of the following quotes were made at that hearing:
Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth, Harvard University Medical School: "It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive. . . . It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception."
Dr. Landrum Shettles, discoverer of male and female producing sperm and a pioneer in the field of in vitro fertilization: "I oppose abortion. I do so, first, because I accept what is biologically manifest-that human life commences at the time of conception-and, second, because I believe it is wrong to take innocent human life under any circumstances. My position is scientific, pragmatic, and humanitarian…Conception confers life and makes that life one of a kind." Concerning the Supreme Court ruling in "Roe v. Wade," he said: "To deny a truth [about when life begins] should not be made a basis for legalizing abortion."
Professor Jerome LeJeune, professor of genetics at the University of Descartes in Paris, discoverer of the chromosome pattern of Down's Syndrome: "To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion, it is not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence. Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception."
Dr. Hymie Gordon, Chairman of the Department of Genetics at the Mayo Clinic: "By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception."
Keith L. Moore (in his well-known med-school textbook): "The cell (a single-celled zygote) results from fertilization of an oocyte by a sperm and is the beginning of human life." (The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 2nd Ed., 1977).
Dr. Alfred M. Bongioanni, professor of pediatrics and obstetrics at the University of Pennsylvania: "I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception . . . I submit that human life is present throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood and that any interruption at any point throughout this time constitutes a termination of human life. I am no more prepared to say that these early stages [of development in the womb] represent an incomplete human being than I would be to say that the child prior to the dramatic effects of puberty . . . is not a human being. This is human life at every stage . . ."
Dr. Watson A. Bowes, University of Colorado Medical School: "The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward matter- the beginning is conception."
On another topic, this women's site, http://www.womenslife.co.za/Default.asp?action=article&ContentID=1278 , advising ALL safe sex education information says, "Research has shown that using a condom 100 per cent of the time does nothing to prevent people from being infected with the human papilloma virus (HPV)."
The "Sex Etc." site, http://www.sxetc.org/index.php?topic=FAQ&sub_topic=Sexually+Transmitted+Infections&content_id=637, teaches something a little different: "The best way to prevent HPV is to use condoms and other latex barriers during all types of sexual touching. Keep in mind that condoms may not cover all areas of the genital skin where the virus is present, so be selective about your partners as well."
That's because it's contact with any of the skin of and around the genitals on the outside of the body that also can transmit HPV, not just fluid inside the body.
When 99%+ of cervical cancers are associated with someone who also has HPV first, that's enough for me to know I don't want to get HPV. I don't believe the two statements were far off the mark of truth ("It is critical that students understand that if they choose to be sexually active, they are at risk" for cervical cancer. And "What is the leading medical complication from HPV? Cervical cancer.")
Posted by: Annie Banno at December 4, 2004 12:27 PM"cervical cancer is highly preventable when women get regular Pap smears."
Maybe I am dense, but I can't see how a diagnostic test could prevent cancer. The most it could do is to detect an already existing cancer in a earlier stage so that it might also be more easily treated.
Posted by: Jeff Miller at December 4, 2004 12:27 PM>> Actually, as I discovered back in March, that 88% of abstinence-pledgers who fornicate corresponds with 99% of non-pledgers who fornicate. One wonders whether the cause of researchers' difficulty measuring benefits is the person wielding the ruler.
I may be remembering this inaccurately, the criterion for being counted among the abstinence-pledgers was that the person made a public pledge at least once. And that most pledgers did so pledge no more than once. The greater the number of pledgers within a single school community, the stronger the influence on behavior.
If the effect was to delay sexual intercourse by a couple of years, then, that single public pledge could buy some youngsters additional time to learn more about their choices. And buying time is a big deal when adolescents are generally rushing into adulthood.
Posted by: Chairm at December 5, 2004 6:38 AMMaybe I am dense, but I can't see how a diagnostic test could prevent cancer. The most it could do is to detect an already existing cancer in a earlier stage so that it might also be more easily treated.
Pap smears can detect cells that are pre-cancerous, like dysplasias (abnormal cell growth). Treatments exist to keep these cells from being fully transformed into cancer cells. Cells have to undergo an average of five "hits" (mutations, usually related to either cell cycle regulation, cell death (apoptosis) regualtion, cell adhesion regulation, and angiogenesis) to become cancer. So, no, you're not dense; the Pap smear doesn't prevent the cancer, but it does allow it to be prevented. The distinction does exist insomuch that a Pap smear can detect pre-cancerous abnormalities and treatment is much nicer than, oh say, having your cervix removed.
Posted by: Michael at December 6, 2004 12:20 PM
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