Some Pediatricians Pushing for Stronger Sex Education for Teens
I agree completely with Horn. It's one thing for doctors to teach safe sex practices to sexually active teens (though I think encouraging them strongly to curtail their sex lives until they are married is a great idea), introducing the idea for sex to those that are inactive is a whole other thing. I'm no pediatrician, but I am a Christian minister who knows this is a bad move.The report appears in July's Pediatrics, being published Tuesday.
It updates a 1998 policy by omitting the statement that "abstinence counseling is an important role for all pediatricians." The new policy says that while doctors should encourage adolescents to postpone sexual activity, they also should help ensure that all teens - not just those who are sexually active - have access to birth control, including emergency contraception.
Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said counseling only abstinence, preferably until marriage, is the best approach because it sends a clear, consistent message. Teenagers who are sexually active should have access to contraception, but making birth control available to teens who aren't sends a contradictory message, he said.
Sex education advocates insist that to withhold sex information from all teens, regardless of their sexual activity, is irresponsible. However, in my opinion, it is just the opposite. Teenagers are, as most of us know, very impressionable. Putting this level of information in the hands of those who are not emotionally prepared to use it is similar to putting a ten year-old child behind the wheel of a car and teaching him how to drive. "Well, we don't think they are old enough to drive and certainly hope they won't, but they might be in a situation where they get behind a wheel, so it's better they know how to do it safely." Fact is, for a ten year-old, there is no truly safe way because they're not emotionally ready for the highway (remember Howard's kid in Seabiscuit?). In the same way, a teenager is not emotionally ready for sex.
They can't handle the drive...don't give them the keys.
Labels: David C. Price
posted by DAVID C. PRICE at 7/05/2005 07:25:00 AM
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