Editorial: Just say no … for adults?

Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006 | 7:22 a.m.

Adults are the newest targets in the Bush administration's war on sex outside of marriage.

According to a recent USA Today story, adults ages 19 to 29 will be the new focus in 2007 of a federally funded campaign that funnels millions of dollars into grants to public and private programs that promote sexual abstinence until marriage. The program once focused only on youths younger than 18.

Federal officials told USA Today that they adopted the new age guidelines because more women in that age group are having children outside of wedlock. Critics, however, said that the abstinence-only focus is more ideological than practical and "has nothing to do with public health."

The Bush administration has always favored a one-dimensional, ideological approach to sex education. This is, after all, the administration that promoted abstinence as the entire U.S. AIDS prevention strategy at the United Nations global AIDS epidemic conference earlier this year. The policy drew criticism from AIDS experts worldwide.

Figures from the National Center for Health Statistics show that more than 90 percent of people ages 20 to 29 have had sex. While abstinence is important, it is only one part of a message that also should include information on birth control and safe sex practices. It is ludicrous that the federal government is pouring public dollars into programs that are preaching to adults how to conduct their private lives.