Abstinence Programs Work

Jason Evert, an international chastity speaker, author and full-time apologist for Catholic Answers, was quoted in a recent article as disagreeing with a recent study that found abstinence-education programs "don't work.”

The study purported to show that such programs should not be funded because they did not work, but the study that was made is deeply flawed for at least these six reasons:

First, the students in the study were between the ages of nine and 11, which is hardly the age at which young people understand the relevance of an abstinence message.

Second, the study had no high school component, and the students had no follow-up to the program…

Third, the researchers did not evaluate a comparable sexual education program in order to compare the findings.

Fourth, the majority of the students were poor African American children from broken families. Such youth are considered high risk for early sexual activity. Therefore, their behaviors are not representative of most young people.

Fifth, the sample of four schools studied represents less than 1% of the more than 900 abstinence programs that receive federal funding.

Sixth, the abstinence programs that were studied have already been revised and updated. Therefore, any conclusions drawn from them are outdated.

Abstinence programs do save many from unwanted pregnancies and sexual diseases, and we should not be duped by false studies that make an opposite statement.