NYCF Opposes Sex Education for Elementary School Students

S71 (Montgomery) / A6474 (Barron)

STATUS: NYCF was successful in stopping this bill in the Senate Education Committee on March 29, 2011. The bill is going nowhere this legislative session.

New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms (NYCF) remains strongly opposed to this bill that would mandate sexual education for students as young as six-years-old. The bill paves the way for Planned Parenthood's condoms-and-contraception instructon in public schools.

NYCF opposes the proposed legislation not only because of the inappropriateness of sharing this controversial material at such a tender age, but because the latest research supports abstinence-based, not comprehensive, sex education.

March 2011 data released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirm that the majority of teens are not having sex. According to 2006-2008 survey results recently released by the National Center for Health Statistics, 68% of boys and 67% of girls (age 15-17) have never had sexual intercourse.[i]

Overall sexual contact trends are also moving in the right direction with 53% of boys and 58% of girls (age 15-17) reporting that they have never had oral, anal, or vaginal sex. This is a positive change from 2002 when only 46% of boys and 49% of girls reported no sexual contact.

This report challenges the wisdom of undercutting abstinence education, with “comprehensive” or condom-based sex education.

Additionally, a landmark study was released February 1, 2010 that measured three distinct sex education programs, using a randomized control study.[ii] Published in the February 2010 edition of Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, this study adds to the growing body of research showing the effectiveness of abstinence education programs. The study found that abstinence education was very effective at reducing teen sex and worked better than both “comprehensive” sex education and “safe” sex programs.

The study’s author cites the value of a single focused abstinence approach for encouraging sexual delay, as opposed to a mixed “comprehensive” message.[iii]

For these reasons, NYCF strongly urges the New York State Legislature to reject this well-intentioned, but misguided, legislation.

[i] National Health Statistics Reports, “Sexual Behavior, Sexual Attraction, and Sexual Identity in the United States: Data from the 2006-2008 National Survey of Family Growth”, Number 36, March 2011. Link: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr036.pdf

[ii] Jemmott, J. B., Jemmott L. S.,Fong G. T. (2010). Efficacy of a theory-based abstinence-only intervention over 24 months. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010;164(2):152-159. Link: http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/164/2/152?home

[iii] AP article 2/2/10: “Jemmott said the single focus may have been better at encouraging abstinence than the other approaches in his study. ‘The message was not mixed with any other messages,’ said Jemmott.