Can Creativity Get Teens to Reject Sex?

July 28, 2003 — -- When the Abstinence Clearinghouse convention hit Las Vegas last month, the chastity-promoting group turned a Sin City tradition on its ear. Instead of the cards prostitutes use to sell their services, volunteers handed out cleaner versions: "Good girl" cards.

On one side are six wholesome young women, including a bride. Flip the card over and there are messages that condoms aren't always safe and that married people have more money, longer lives and better sex.

"We walk up to girls and guys and pass out cards about STDs. We feel they need to know how at risk they are," said Leslee Unruh, president of the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Abstinence Clearinghouse. "These kids are out there and society is selling sex, sex, sex. Who's selling virginity? We are."

The Abstinence Clearinghouse was so happy with how good girl cards went over in Las Vegas that it's taking them to New Orleans, another city known for sin, Unruh said. Abstinence groups in Brazil have also inquired about the cards, she said.

Times are good for abstinence promoters like Unruh. With a booster in the White House, wait-until-marriage programs are flourishing in communities and school districts. Yet the debate over whether they work, or are merely the ideological tool of religious conservatives, rages on stronger than ever.

President Bush has proposed spending $135 million on abstinence education next fiscal year, more than double spending from just five years ago.

This month, $15 million in new abstinence grants went out to community-based groups, faith-based organizations and school systems. And another round of abstinence grants will be made this fall.

In announcing the latest grants, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson summed up the administration's approach to sex education: "When adolescents become sexually active, it can have negative effects on their physical and emotional health."

Federal and state governments have put more than $700 million into abstinence education since 1996, according to one estimate. More than one-third of U.S. high schools now teach abstinence until marriage and 700 abstinence programs exist nationwide.