Bush Administration Abstinence-Only Sex Education Policy Could Increase U.S. HIV/AIDS Cases, Opinion Piece Says

The Bush administration is, "in its own small way, working to make it possible for the United States to step up its rate of HIV/AIDS infection," columnist Tom Teepen writes in a Dayton Daily News opinion piece. The administration, which is "politically beholden to the religious right," has been "scaling back" its sex education efforts to further its abstinence-only policy, he says, adding that although it is "no mystery" that the spread of HIV can be curbed through education and "easy access" to condoms, the administration is "busily undermining both parts of the solution." According to Teepen, studies have shown that "broad" sex education tends to delay the start of sexual activity and reduce a person's number of sexual partners, while abstinence-only education programs have "never been comparably certified." However, the administration continues its push to "zoom abstinence-only funding up to $135 million a year." Teepen concludes, "Liberal political correctness is mostly just daffy and a pain in the neck. Right-wing political correctness can be downright deadly" (Teepen, Dayton Daily News, 10/17).