Don’t Rush to Judge Abstinence Programs

To the Editor:

Regarding your article on teen-age pregnancy (“Helping Kids Not Have Kids,” April 23), the overhaul of the federal welfare law, which authorized the payment of $50-million a year to organizations that run programs that encourage young people to abstain from having sexual relations, has been in effect for a little over a year, and already opponents are lining up to disparage it. The government is issuing a call for proposals to evaluate this infant program while it has not done so for the myriad of government-funded, so-called sex-education programs which have been in effect for many years.

Why the rush to evaluate this particular program? One year isn’t enough time to even establish a track record. They expect a miraculous change in this short time, but only for this one program initiative. Obviously, the word abstinence is just not popular with detractors such as Planned Parenthood, who also are active in the pro-abortion circles.

The problem of teen-age pregnancy has its roots in the declining moral and ethical climate in America. Children have no good role models. Television sit-coms are saturated with casual sex showing no consequences of such behavior. If adults can act in such a cavalier manner about sex, the children have no compunction to do otherwise. Monkey see, monkey do.

Children are left unsupervised at very early ages while both parents go out to work. The parents thus close their eyes to the dangers of after-school hours, when children are left to their own devices.

Obviously, this country has its priorities in the wrong place. Money and things are more important than overseeing children. As our country loses many of its jobs to third world countries, it now takes two jobs to support a family. We have sacrificed our children on an altar of a thriving economy.

We shrink back from expecting ethical behavior even from our elected officials. So why are we surprised when children, who are the product of this environment, get embroiled in casual sex with the resulting epidemic of children having children?

The abstinence program is only a first step in asking our children to take responsibility for their lives, even when their parents and other adults do not. We must add other such programs that teach children to respect those in authority and to respect themselves. Until this takes place, we can expect no progress in this area.

Dixie Schmittou
Clemson, S.C.