The Abstinence Clearinghouse Blog

Richard Urban of ULTRA Teen Choice wrote the following article regarding the recent hearings in DC on abstinence.

Congresswoman Norton Shows Lack of Respect for Values of DC Public School Parents
 

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton asserted during the Committee on Oversight and Government reform hearing on April 23, 2008 concerning abstinence centered programs that she did not agree with an exclusive “one size fits all” approach to sexual health education.  I couldn’t agree more.  She also asserted that abstinence educators would be “laughed out of the classroom where students already had sex”.  The latter statement is totally false, in my experience.  Youth from 7^th grade to 12^th grade are grateful to hear that they don’t need to have sex, and that the majority of their peers are not having sex.  In fact, 16 percent more Washington DC high school youth were abstaining from sex in 2005 than in 2003, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System.  This kind of attitude denigrates the rights and values of Washington, DC youth

It is very ironic that ULTRA Teen Choice, the program that my wife and I co-founded, has been banned from DC Public schools.  We provide a choice for those students who wish to stay sexually abstinent and drug free to have peer support, medically accurate information and a place where their values are reinforced.  Our situation shows that it is a sham to say that hearings such as the above mentioned oversight hearing are actually about balanced scientific information. The “expert” panel was stacked five to one with abstinence opponents.  And speaking about exclusivity, that definitely applies to DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, who has worked hard to have the ULTRA Teen Choice program expelled, claiming last November that ULTRA Teen Choice did not comply to health standards, which is false, that there was a moratorium on all outside providers of health services, which is false, that we did not meet the Chancellors goal of promotion of homosexual lifestyles, and that we promote abstinence until marriage, which apparently also does not meet the Chancellors’ “diversity” goals.

If Ms Norton is serious about giving youth more “choices”, and avoiding “exclusivity”, then she should stand up for the rights of DC youth to choose abstinence and speak out against Chancellor Rhee’s sham expulsion of ULTRA Teen Choice from DC Public Schools.  Sixteen percent more Washington DC high school youth were abstaining from sex in 2005 than in 2003, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. Congresswoman Norton should also be glad to fund programs that are directive and abstinence centered.  These programs help youth to understand why abstinence is a positive choice while providing training in relationship skills and refusal skills, while discussing life goals and medically accurate information on sexual health.  Many abstinence centered programs also provide peer support for those who wish to stay abstinent.