What is the Bush years legacy?

[Peikko 1,575]

Teenage pregnancies and syphilis have risen sharply among a generation of American school girls who were urged to avoid sex before marriage under George Bush's evangelically-driven education policy, according to a new report by the US's major public health body.

In a report that will surprise few of Bush's critics on the issue, the Centres for Disease Control says years of falling rates of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease infections under previous administrations were reversed or stalled in the Bush years. According to the CDC, birth rates among teenagers aged 15 or older had been in decline since 1991 but are up sharply in more than half of American states since 2005. The study also revealed that the number of teenage females with syphilis has risen by nearly half after a significant decrease while a two-decade fall in the gonorrhea infection rate is being reversed. The number of Aids cases in adolescent boys has nearly doubled.

The CDC says that southern states, where there is often the greatest emphasis on abstinence and religion, tend to have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs.

In addition, about 16,000 pregnancies were reported among 10- to 14-year-old girls in 2004 and a similar number of young people in the age group reported having a sexually transmitted disease.

"It is disheartening that after years of improvement with respect to teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, we now see signs that progress is stalling and many of these trends are going in the wrong direction," said Janet Collins, a CDC director.

Although the CDC does not attribute a cause, groups that support comprehensive sex education have seized on the report as evidence of the failure of religiously-driven policies that shy away from teaching about contraception in favour of emphasising avoiding sexual contact.

Planned Parenthood said the CDC report is "alarming" and confirms that teenagers need "medically accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education".

But supporters of abstinence-based education said that the new report shows that there is too little not too much emphasis on discouraging sex before marriage.

Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for American Values, which describes itself as a supporter of traditional marriage and "against liberal education and cultural forces", said the abstinence message is overwhelmed by a culture obsessed with sex.

"It is ridiculous to say that a programme we nominally invest in has failed when it fails to overcome the most sexualised culture in world history. Education that emphasises abstinence as the best option for teens makes up a minuscule part of overall sex education in the United States," she said.

"In every other area of public policy - food, drugs, alcohol - we tell children what is the best choice. It seems very bizarre that the sex education establishment rejects the idea that we should talk to kids about what is best for them. We don't take vodka to drivers education because children will drink and drive."

Link

Let's see the right spin this to read it's Obama/the Dems fault

Edited July 20, 2009 by Madame Cleo

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Teenage pregnancies and syphilis have risen sharply among a generation of American school girls who were urged to avoid sex before marriage under George Bush's evangelically-driven education policy, according to a new report by the US's major public health body.

In a report that will surprise few of Bush's critics on the issue, the Centres for Disease Control says years of falling rates of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease infections under previous administrations were reversed or stalled in the Bush years. According to the CDC, birth rates among teenagers aged 15 or older had been in decline since 1991 but are up sharply in more than half of American states since 2005. The study also revealed that the number of teenage females with syphilis has risen by nearly half after a significant decrease while a two-decade fall in the gonorrhea infection rate is being reversed. The number of Aids cases in adolescent boys has nearly doubled.

The CDC says that southern states, where there is often the greatest emphasis on abstinence and religion, tend to have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs.

In addition, about 16,000 pregnancies were reported among 10- to 14-year-old girls in 2004 and a similar number of young people in the age group reported having a sexually transmitted disease.

"It is disheartening that after years of improvement with respect to teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, we now see signs that progress is stalling and many of these trends are going in the wrong direction," said Janet Collins, a CDC director.

Although the CDC does not attribute a cause, groups that support comprehensive sex education have seized on the report as evidence of the failure of religiously-driven policies that shy away from teaching about contraception in favour of emphasising avoiding sexual contact.

Planned Parenthood said the CDC report is "alarming" and confirms that teenagers need "medically accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education".

But supporters of abstinence-based education said that the new report shows that there is too little not too much emphasis on discouraging sex before marriage.

Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for American Values, which describes itself as a supporter of traditional marriage and "against liberal education and cultural forces", said the abstinence message is overwhelmed by a culture obsessed with sex.

"It is ridiculous to say that a programme we nominally invest in has failed when it fails to overcome the most sexualised culture in world history. Education that emphasises abstinence as the best option for teens makes up a minuscule part of overall sex education in the United States," she said.

"In every other area of public policy - food, drugs, alcohol - we tell children what is the best choice. It seems very bizarre that the sex education establishment rejects the idea that we should talk to kids about what is best for them. We don't take vodka to drivers education because children will drink and drive."

Link

Let's see the right spin this to read it's Obama/the Dems fault

The only thing that paper is good for is wipin your azz with when you run out of the real thing.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

They pushed that stupid abstinence only ####### and look what happens

[Otto 83]

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Shouldn't the title be "what is the legacy of the Bush years?"

[The_Dude 1,142]

Shouldn't the title be "what is the legacy of the Bush years?"

LoL, maybe she phrased it that way in tribute to bush's awkward grasp of the english language

[Peikko 1,575]

Shouldn't the title be "what is the legacy of the Bush years?"

LoL, maybe she phrased it that way in tribute to bush's awkward grasp of the english language

If only I could take that credit.

[Otto 83]

Shouldn't the title be "what is the legacy of the Bush years?"

LoL, maybe she phrased it that way in tribute to bush's awkward grasp of the english language

That's what you call 'stratergy'...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You disunderstand - all the cool people are saying "strategery"

Edited July 20, 2009 by Private Pike

[justashooter 430]

the increase in syphillis is largely due to the increased numbers of puerto ricans entering the continental US.

York Pennsylvania is a sentinel case in the increased incidence. York's puerto rican population has increased from 200 to 16,000 in the last 10 years, and now leads the nation in terms of the number of stage 2 and stage 3 syphillis cases for cities in it's size class. local health care workers indicate that the clients they see with this disease are about 80% puerto rican, and that nearly all cases treated can be traced to sexual contact with a puerto rican. the disease did not exist in York prior to the influx of puerto ricans.

how sad that this underclass of persons in the US eschews education in regard to STD, and is allowed to enter USA without health inspection. how sad that there exists in parallel an entire population of peers that is being infected by contact, and that this population has no education in regard to the symptoms and treatment of the disease, much less the devastating consequence of allowing it to run a natural course.

syphillis is a simple bacterial infection and may be treated with one shot of pennicillin or a short dose of oral anti-biotics if caught within the first year of infection in it's Stage 1 manifestation. Stage 2 (1-3 years) requires several weeks of anti-biotic treatment. Stage 3 (2-5 years) requires up to 6 months of anti-biotics. Stage 4 (5+ years) is untreatable, and leads to a death involving blindness, liver failure, dementia, and lots of other nasty experiences.

as a father of 3 young adults i have been careful to educate my children in the symptoms and treatment of this disease.

how ironic this disease, eradicated in the 1950's from the USA, is coming once again to us from the carribean. it was first documented as infecting crewmen of columbus' early expeditions to the island of hispaniola, which today houses the nations of haiti and the dominican republic.

[Peikko 1,575]

Ah, we have a winner. Shooter is blaming Puerto-Ricans. Cool.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I do like how he has to write an entire encyclopedia entry on syphilis, to make him sound knowledgable.

Naturally, its completely irrelevant to the thread topic (unless of course - as well as spreading syphilis - the Puerto Ricans are getting all those middle class white school girls up the duff too!).

Edited July 20, 2009 by Private Pike

[Peikko 1,575]

Is it copy/paste again?

[mawilson 2,133]

They pushed that stupid abstinence only ####### and look what happens

Reverse psychology / forbidden fruit?

Maybe they should have made sex compulsory and asked them to submit an essay-style

coursework assignment (min 750 words) describing their sexual experiences.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Or they could give teens all the information they need to make their own, informed choices.