Something that has me all fired up this week: Republican Vice President Nominee Palin and the politics of abstinence-based sex education (or the effective lack thereof)
Recent news reports of the announcement that Governor Palin’s 17 year old daughter is pregnant have generated widespread debate about Palin’s ‘family values’ and her own parenting and the possible mistakes that she may have made as a working mother that have led to the situation her daughter finds herself in. While these deliberations are certainly worthy of this blog (including the attention paid to the fact that this 17 year old woman is ‘unwed’), I am particularly interested in bringing attention to Palin’s policies as Governor of Alaska regarding sex education. Abstinence-based programmes draw my ire due to their ongoing ineffectiveness particularly in the light of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the power of this ideologically-driven stance on funding and on delivery of sex education, or the lack thereof. It is well-known, for example, that only NGOs that support abstinence-based ‘prevention’ programmes receive USAID-PEPFAR funding (the United States International Aid Agency and President’s Emergency Fund for HIV/AIDS and TB funding), as do domestic HIV/AIDS programmes in the US. This week, the Newsweek publication published details of Palin’s views on sex education and abstinence-based programmes (see below). I don’t think this is as simple an issue as asking that Palin ‘practices what she preaches’ as it is her daughter who is pregnant and she is an autonomous young woman. However, her stance on sex education policy is one that brings the relationship between church and state into the lives of young people and the choices available to them.
Newsweek writes that ‘perhaps the most detailed account of Palin’s views remains her responses to a questionnaire put out in 2006 by the Alaskan arm of the conservative pro-family group The Eagle Forum. We’ve pulled the questions most relevant to family planning, but you can access the questionnaire in its entirety here.
1. Complete the sentence by checking the applicable phrases (you can check more than one).
Abortion should be:
- Banned throughout entire pregnancy.
- Legal to save the life of the mother.
- Legal in case of rape and incest.
- Legal if the baby is handicapped.
- Legal if the baby has a genetic defect.
- Legal in the first trimester.
- Legal in the second trimester.
- Legal in the third trimester.
- Other:__________________
Sarah Palin: I am pro-life. With the exception of a doctor’s determination that the mother’s life would end if the pregnancy continued. I believe that no matter what mistakes we make as a society, we cannot condone ending an innocent’s life.
3. Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?
Sarah Palin: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.
8. Do you support parental choice in the spending of state educational dollars?
Sarah Palin: Within Alaska law, I support parents deciding what is the best education venue for their child.
12. In relationship to families, what are your top three priorities if elected governor?
Sarah Palin: 1) Creating an atmosphere where parents feel welcome to choose the venues of education for their children; 2) Preserving the definition of “marriage” as defined in our constitution, and 3) Cracking down on the things that harm family life: gangs, drug use, and infringement of our liberties including attacks on our 2nd Amendment rights.
Editor’s Note: This item originally reported that Palin’s public-health division had decided to submit an application for a federally-funded program to promote abstinence from sexual activity. Subsequent reporting revealed that the division had decided otherwise. ‘ Newsweek http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/09/01/palin-s-record-on-family-issues.aspx
Opinion writer Charles M. Blow brings to light a number of revealing statistics relating to America’s abstinence-only policies. He uses Britain as a point of difference, where there are steps being taken to put in place sex education infrastructure, to make available contraception/protection and information for teenagers, even children as young as eleven. It would seem Britain is facing reality, while American parents are in a state of blind, morality-induced hope and/or denial – believing a formal sex education programme will encourage teenagers into bed. Nevertheless, the US claims the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the OECD (according to a UNICEF report, in 2002). However this is not because they are the most sexually active. It would seem that even for teenagers who appreciate and recognise their parents’ stance on abstinence, there comes a time when they choose when and whether to have sex regardless of their schools’ and their parents’ conservative leanings. Not having sufficient information about the full range of consequences that arise from these choices proves, in the US scenario at least, that it puts the kids at risk. More and more states, spurred on by 65% of parents wanting a portion of federal money put towards sex education in schools, are beginning to understand the implications of tip-toeing around the topic rather than allowing students an educated basis to make well-informed choices.
I believe its important that girls have education about sex, and have access to contraception and protection, because at the end of the day, every person makes their own choices. However, in light of the insane amounts of messages young girls are sent every day, through advertisement and movies about sex, and about being a sexually attractive women, i think its sad that girls are feeling the pressure to become sexual objects at younger and younger ages. So i think there is nothing wrong with some abstinence promotion in schools to show young girls there are other options, other than what hollywood offers, if they want to choose them.