Abstinence Only? Not Anymore...

Salon reports on a school district in Ohio that abandoned Abstinence Only education because of some problems it created.

It became nearly impossible for the Canton, Ohio, school board to ignore the unintended byproducts of its abstinence-only program when 13 percent of Timken High School's female student population became pregnant last year. Thanks to Feministing for pointing us in the direction of this ridiculous-but-true story about a school board that has, to its credit, finally seen the light of sex education.

Of course it took 65 of the 490 female students becoming pregnant within a year to adequately deliver that message, but as Jessica of Feministing queried, "I guess better late than never?"

Yeah, except for those 65 mothers. Perhaps some of them wanted to become pregnant. But I'm guessing not. And I wonder how many abortions the 'pro-life' Abstinence Only program ended up causing? Maybe I'm out of my mind, but if you believe abortion is murder, doesn't it make sense to teach young people how to put on a condom?

But for the crazies, it doesn't. For fundies, the child is the punishment for the mother's lack of morals. The baby is to be a living, breathing reminder of the shame that she's supposed to feel. How sickeningly Christian of them.

Of course people only go along with the fundies because they don't want to look like 'libruls or anti-Christians to the other people in the community. But faced with a situation where one in eight females at the local high school is pregnant, common sense prevails.

Parents are now demanding that health textbooks (some older than the students reading them) be replaced. Here's a scary statistic:

According to the Canton Health Department, statistics through July 2005 showed that 104 of the 586 babies born to Canton residents in Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center had mothers between the ages of 11 and 19.

That's 18% - statistically speaking, one for every other Bush supporter.

I'm out of High School. I'm out of college. I have a stable job, a wife, and a pretty good place to live and I'm not ready to have a child. Will these young women have a chance now to better themselves? Will they be able to act on their dreams? Will they go to college? Will they go to a trade school? Will they learn professions that allow them to be successful individuals?

Abstinence Only education actively subjugates women. Of course that's exactly what the Christianists want.

Abstinence Only Canton Ohio Christianists