Abstinence-only policy won't work

To the editor:

Though ideology does not prevent pregnancy, several of our state legislators think it does.

The most widely debunked campaign claiming to prevent teenage pregnancy is that which tells students that abstinence is the only option. Because it conforms to their ideology, some politicians -- from President Bush down the Republican line -- have decided to ignore the wealth of research demonstrating that this policy is a total failure. Rather than reduce teen pregnancy, abstinence-only education promotes it.

Now several Republican state legislators have introduced a bill that would replace the requirement that students be presented with "the latest medically factual information regarding both the possible side effects and health benefits of all forms of contraception" with the requirement that abstinence-only be taught. If this weren't bad enough, the curriculum they promote teaches factually incorrect information regarding condom failure rates and the dangers of abortion, scientific distortions regarding fetal developmental, outright errors regarding HIV transmission and outdated stereotypes about girls and boys.

A curriculum that teaches students errors and distortions about the most critical of human acts -- that which produces babies -- does not seem to me to represent family, Christian or moral values. Through misguided ideology, these representatives would condemn thousands of Missouri's young women to years of parenthood and thousands of children to lives in single-parent homes. Surely nothing could be more contrary to American values than this.

If our legislators ignore scientific evidence in this critical area, can we trust them on anything?

SHANNON NEIER, Cape Girardeau