Local Control Dominates Sex Education in New Hampshire
SEX EDUCATION
Keene Sentinel
Kenna Caprio
Boston University Washington News Service
May 1, 2008
WASHINGTON – Though the abstinence-only debate over sex education has flared up again in Washington, the controversy is having only a limited impact in New Hampshire, where sex ed programs and curricula remain under the jurisdiction of local school districts and communities.
Though there is increased concern about the rise in sexually transmitted diseases among young people—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in March that one in four teenage girls in the United States has such a disease—critics of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs say they have not been effective.
New Hampshire, while it accepts federal abstinence-only grants, leaves it up to local school districts to decide what kinds of sex education programs, if any, to include in their curriculums. The state distributes the federal funds not to the schools themselves but to nonprofit organizations, which must match three of every four federal dollars received.
While the state mandates education about HIV and AIDS, it does not otherwise require sex education.
“The high schools make a determination themselves as far as what the curriculum can include,” said Lisa Bujno, a community health services director for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.
In Washington, meanwhile, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on April 23 conducted the first-ever hearing on the effectiveness of federal grants for state and local abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and whether they should be continued.
Rep. Paul W. Hodes, D-N.H, a member of the committee, described the rise in sexually transmitted diseases among the young as a “public health crisis.”
He added: “It certainly appears from the testimony at the hearing that abstinence-only programs are not effective in addressing the crisis that our teens and young people are facing in terms of the consequences of sexual activity.
“The testimony was clear that we now have scientific evidence showing that abstinence-only is not effective at preventing both disease and unwanted pregnancies. What is important, obviously, is to have comprehensive sexual education in which the importance of abstinence plays a significant role.”
Hodes favors an end to abstinence-only grants and instead supports grants for comprehensive sex education programs, according to Mark Bergman, his communications director.
Since 1982, the federal government has spent more than $1.5 billion on
abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, with more than $175 million allocated in the current fiscal year under a program created in 1996.
An increasing number of states have refused any federal grants for such programs.
New Hampshire, while it accepts such grants, received only $94,901 in federal funds last year for abstinence-only programs, with Catholic Medical Center in Manchester the lone grantee.
Area high schools, including ConVal Regional High School in Peterborough and Conant High School in Jaffrey, sometimes invite outside speakers to discuss abstinence with students, according to Bujno.
Jeanne Pride, who teaches independent living at Conant High School, invites Robin Ng, a speaker from W8NG: Because U’R Worth It! to come talk to her students. W8NG, an advocate of abstinence-only sex education, received $27,805 in federal abstinence-only funds in fiscal year 2006 but not in 2007.
“The kids know up front that this is an abstinence presentation,” Pride said, adding that Ng “does a good job of relating to the kids.”
In her course, Pride covers topics from basic anatomy and childbirth to sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, parenting and relationships.
Describing her job, Pride said, “I’m filling in, not taking the place of parents.”
Pride devotes more time to talking about sexually transmitted diseases than pregnancy, she said, because students are “much more likely to get STDs than to get pregnant.
At the House committee hearing, Shelby Knox, a 21-year-old youth speaker and blogger for the Huffington Post, spoke about her experience growing up in Lubbock, Texas. She said she took a virginity-until-marriage pledge at church, received abstinence-only-until-marriage sex ed, saw acquaintances become pregnant and realized that she believes in comprehensive sex education.
In her prepared statement, she said: “I believe in abstinence-only in a religious sense…. Even if we did wait until marriage, we still lacked a basic understanding of our bodies, reproduction and how to prevent pregnancy as well as a long list of sexually transmitted infections and the skills to navigate conversations about sex and protection.
Pro-abstinence organizations are quick to point out that abstinence education does more than just stress abstinence.
“I think one thing that is important to understand is abstinence education isn’t just telling kids to ‘say no to sex’; the programs are more comprehensive than that. They get into character building and goal setting,” said Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, an organization that promotes public policy based on Biblical principles.
Valeria Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, echoed that view: “[There’s] so much misinformation about what abstinence education is…it’s been reduced to a war of sound bites.”
A speaker from Catholic Medical Center, the single recipient of abstinence-only federal funds last year, was invited to discuss abstinence with Judy Heddy’s ConVal students this school year. Heddy also had a representative from Planned Parenthood speak to her students.
In her class, Heddy covers healthy relationships, sexually transmitted diseases, birth control and abstinence.
The speaker from Catholic Medical Center, Heddy said, covered “relationships, making choices, consequences of bad choices, benefits of waiting to have sex.”
According to the medical center’s Web site, it provides a “WAIT (Why Am I Tempted) Training – High school program for juniors and seniors on sexual abstinence in preparation for marriage.”
The hospital’s abstinence education program “has components that relate to healthy relationships, character formations, positive youth development, life skills and marriage preparation,” said the state Health Department’s Bujno.
Abstinence-only programs that receive federal funding must adhere to a strict eight point guideline.
Among the criteria: teaching “that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and other associated health problems,” “that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity” and “that sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects.”
ConVal also offers an “opt-out” choice for students and parents if they are not comfortable with the subject matter of the class. According to Heddy, no one opted out this year.
In New Hampshire, it is up to educators and communities to listen and discern the best way to educate and protect students and young adults from the potential health risks of sexual activity.
At Keene High School, the co-superintendent, William B. Gurney, said that though students cover sex ed in 9th grade, the school is considering an 11th-grade health class as well.
“A lot of things covered in the freshman class [we] may do very well to discuss again with11th graders as they get ready to go off to college and into the real world,” Gurney said.
###
