Reading articles pooh-poohing abstinence only sex education has inspired me to come up with other areas in which the "they're going to do it anyway" philosophy could apply.  What if we taught Comprehensive Smoking Education?  Everyone who has walked past a group of high school mall rats puffing away knows that high school kids smoke.  We could give the facts of smoking and its ill effects on health, but yet teach the kids to analyze the tar and nicotine contents on various brands of cigarettes.  We could also point out the "cool" people in history who have smoked.  We could teach them about "safe smoking" which would mean consuming only "light" cigarettes or snuff.

What about "safe inebriation".  We all know that high school kids have been drinking since time immemorial.  Let's cease with the gory pictures of drunk driving victims.  We could teach them how to get a nice buzz while still remaining under the legal limit for blood alcohol content.  Lesson 2 would be how to beat a breathalizer test.  Lesson 3 would be how to mix over the counter medicines to get a nice high without any legal hassels.

How about Safe Eating Disorders.  Let's give the facts about healthy nutrition, but also point out that there could be some real benefits to anorexia and bulimea.  We could also include tasty 100 calorie a day recipes, and discuss techniques to induce vomiting.

The fact is that we expect kids to abstain from smoking and drug abuse.  We expect them to abstain from alcohol until they are legally old enough to consume it, and tobacco altogether.  Why is it so unreasonable to expect teens to abstain from sexual activity until they are financially and emotionally ready to marry and create a stable home for any child that might result if a contraceptive fails?

Of course abstinence is an uphill battle when magazines such as Seventeen portray sex with multiple partners as being as normal a part of a middle schooler's existence as band practice, and being a "hook-up honey" as being a perfectly valid lifestyle choice.  But abstinence education is not just about "crossing your legs", as critics claim.  Teens are taught ALL the consequences of premature sexual activity including STD's (condoms are NOT foolproof), lower self-esteem and lower academic achievement.  Teens learn valuable skills in building healthy relationships.  They learn to self-regulate, empowering themselves not only to say "no" to sex, but to drugs, alcohol and other forms of impulsivity.  They learn to build healthy relationships based on mutual respect.  Healthy relationships lead to happy, lasting marriages. 

According to the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, a major durvey of adolescent and young adult behavior, which is funded by more than 17 federal agencies, students who delayed sex until age 18 were twice as likely to finish college as sexually active teens.

But then again, if teens were doing homework, pursuing sports, musical or artistic interests and getting involved in their community instead of having sex, how would Planned Parenthood make any money?