My Abstinence-Only Program for Teens One of President Bush's first paybacks to the religious right groups that figured so prominently in the election was to halt the teaching of "safe sex" in favour of "abstinence only" education. It may come as a suprise to many of my readers, but I'm going to cross the aisle and do what I can to make this program successful. The Bush Administration needs a seasoned (former) abstinence practitioner like myself to make it work. The Bush administration has pushed the use of abstinence-only education and more federal dollars have been devoted to the cause in recent years. Congress recently included more than $131 million for abstinence education programs in its spending bill. Many people regard this shift of focus to be a tragic public health blunder. They claim that abstinence-only sexual education means that once teens succumb to natural urges, they are far more likely to become pregnant or contract STDs, and research on the subject seems to support this hypothesis. What would the Bush Sex Ed. program look like? If a recent report conducted by Congressman Waxman's office oncurrent abstinence-only programs give us any indication, we're in trouble: The report found errors or misrepresentations in more than 80 percent of 13 popular curricula used by most of the 69 school districts, hospitals and community groups that received funding from the Special Projects of Regional and National Significance Community-based Abstinence Education, a federal initiative to encourage young people to abstain from sex. It found that the lesson plans included false information about the effectiveness of contraceptions, the risks of abortion and other basic scientific facts. The report also claimed that the curriculums relied on religious beliefs and moral values instead of scientific fact and that it wrongly promoted gender stereotypes. Read the Article: If this type of abstinence education is promoted nationwide, it will have dire consequences for our nation. I don't agree with Bush on this one, but I'm willing to humbly offer up my own abstinence curriculum to the general public. The curriculum is multi-media, interactive, and technologically based, and parents can be sure that their sons and daughters will remain chaste for the forseeable future. Here are the items in my curriculum kit for teens: 12-sided dice for Dungeons and Dragons Star Trek Voyageur Season Four DVD This loveable Patriotic Kitty T-Shirt ...And Dan Fogelberg's greatest hits. It's not too late to save the children!