Good news in fight against abstinence-only sex ed

Earlier this month, Illinois Review, a conservative blog announced that funding for Project Reality has been cut from the state budget. This is a great step toward getting young people medically-accurate information about sex and how to protect themselves from STDs and unplanned pregnancy.

Consider this quote from a Project Reality Curriculum:

“While condom usage has increased among teens, the spread of STDs has also increased most among teens.” This comes from A.C. Green’s Game Plan, which is published by Project Reality. It clearly makes it sound like it's all those people who ARE using condoms that are responsible for the rise in STDs. Sound a little backwards to you?

A curriculum review by the Illinois Campaign for Responsible Sex Eduction (of which Planned Parenthood is a part) found that Project Reality's curricula excludes information on sexual anatomy, contraceptive options and information, information on testing and treatment for STDs, sexual orientation, information on sexual harassment, rape, sexual assault and dating violence, and prevention information for students who have already become sexually active. You'll find more from Project Reality on the website.

Can you believe our state was funding this?

In addition, numerous studies (like this one from Mathematica) have come out recently which show that abstinence-only education is not effective. We should give props to the Governor for cutting an ineffective program that was misleading Illinois youth.

Technorati tags: Abstinence-only, Sex Education, Project Reality, Planned Parenthood Action Illinois