HOW TO HELP YOUR KIDS SAY “NO” TO SEX
Teenagers growing up in the 90s face many of the same challenges that have tested previous generations: making college and career plans, choosing a mate, and finding one’s place in the world. But without a doubt, questions relating to sexuality present teens with some of their most difficult decisions. The risk of broken dreams, lost reputations, unintended pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases have always been part of the gamble associated with sexual promiscuity. However, today’s sexually active teens are risking a new and deadly consequence: AIDS.
The emergence of AIDS at a time when many teens are sexually active has presented parents and educators with the serious dilemma of protecting teens from this deadly disease. One suggestion has been the so-called “safe sex” message promoted in public schools, mainstream media and popular youth culture. Standing opposite this approach is the timeless message of reserving sexual activity for marriage. This booklet provides a brief look at these two approaches and offers guidance for those interested in more information on abstinence education.
Sexual Pressure, Teens and Parents
“Having premarital sex was the most horrifying experience of my life. It wasn’t at all emotionally satisfying or the casually-taken experience the world perceives it to be. I felt as if my insides were being exposed and my heart left unattended.”
“It’s not a pretty picture. It’s not a TV soap opera either. The reality of pregnancy outside of marriage is scary and lonely. To have premarital sex was my choice one hot June night, forcing many decisions I thought I would never have to make. Those decisions radically changed my life.”
“It’s so hard sometimes-like last week, when I was over at Bill’s, and his roommate Tom started talking to me again. He knows Bill and I haven’t slept together and he’s basically told me I’m too Victorian. But what really hurt was his accusation that there’s something wrong with anyone who doesn’t want to have sex before marriage. I didn’t know what to say.”
These real life testimonies illustrate the tremendous pressure today’s teens are under to engage in premarital sex and the negative consequences that result. Television, movies and music seduce our children into becoming sexually active at an increasingly early age. On “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” a popular program on the ABC television network, Doogie states, “A man is a lot of things, but he’s not a virgin.” just before he sleeps with his girlfriend. Kids will see over 14,000 acts of sexual contact on television every year. Our youth culture conveys the idea that “everybody’s doing it,” contributing to the pressure teens experience from their peers. In fact, Planned Parenthood reports that the number one reason teens have sexual intercourse is peer pressure. Sexual gratification comes fourth, behind curiosity and thinking that “everyone else is doing it.”
A January 1992 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) survey found that 54.2% of U.S high school students (grades 9-12) have had sexual intercourse. This ratio increases dramatically through the high school years with 72% of our teens having lost their virginity by the twelfth grade. In addition, the CDC reports over I million teen pregnancies and over 3 million new cases of sexually transmitted disease for adolescents every year.
Since 1970, the federal government has spent $3 billion to promote contraception and “safe sex.” $450 million will go down that hole this year. In contrast, less than $8 million is earmarked to promote abstinence this year. In the twenty years since the inception of federal family planning programs there has been an 87% rise in pregnancies for teenagers between the ages of 15-19, unplanned births have risen 61 %, and syphilis rates have risen 6O%, for teens l5-l9 since 1985. The arrival of AIDS as a deadly STD has raised the stakes against our teens.
Public schools have stepped in to take over the parental role in teaching sex education but, in many cases, schools have merely joined in with the “teenage sex is inevitable” chorus. In the New York and Los Angeles school systems condoms are now distributed to high schools students without parental consent. More and more parents are finding themselves shut out of this crucial decision in their child’s life.
Parents must become their child’s primary source of information and guidance regarding sex. It’s a matter of life and death!
Study after study demonstrates what many people know as common sense: Parental involvement is the single most critical factor affecting the sexual activity of teens. A study of 10,000 high school sophomores conducted by the U.S. Department of Education found that strong parental values and parental supervision has the most significant effect on teen sexual activity. Parents who had a close relationship with their teenage daughters, supervised their school work and activities were able to curb the likelihood that their daughters would become pregnant by 42%. The study also found that schools were unable to reduce the sexual activity of adolescents and teen pregnancies with the usual comprehensive sex education programs which emphasize condoms.
Dr. Stan Weed, Director of the Institute for Research and Evaluation, has identified the five most influential factors which affect the sexual involvement of teenagers:
1. The child’s value system (their sense of right and wrong).
2. Their social system (the influence of family and peers).
3. Related risk behaviors (drug and alcohol use, steady dating, skipping school).
4. Personality system (personal efficacy, risk taking propensity, rebelliousness, future orientation, need for acceptance, and personal vulnerability).
5. Information (knowledge about sexuality, reproduction, and contraception).
The role of the family cannot be emphasized strongly enough. The breakdown of the family, and subsequently the lack of guidance children have received in the area of sexuality, has ultimately led young people to look to other areas for fulfillment and acceptance. It is in this type of situation that peer pressure can push a teenager into sexual involvement. Sex educator Josh McDowell writes,
“Our needs are compounded by the breakdown of the family . . . in times past . . . people could find a relative security and significance within the family. They had at least one place where they could be themselves and not have to perform. But that is not true in most cases today. Rather than have a haven from the world, for many teens the family setting is a place of discord and unrest, a place where spouses are put on a performance basis, knowing they will be discarded if they do not continually please the other. Any element of security the family may have held is removed, since people within the family are not loved for who they are, but rather for how they perform. Kids growing up in that kind of environment lack acceptance and security, which leaves them with an unhealthy sense of worthlessness. They don’t feel free to be themselves. They believe that if they were, no one would like them.
With a poor self-image brought about by lack of acceptance of them as unique individuals, teenagers may grab for the first thing that resembles security. Often this means sex . . . unfortunately premature sexual involvement often makes things worse.”
Abstinence vs. “Safe Sex”
Why should I teach my child abstinence? What’s wrong with teaching them to practice “safe sex”?
Apart from moral considerations, abstinence before marriage and a mutually faithful relationship thereafter is the only 100% effective means to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. Abstinence is the only true comprehensive sex education and it provides complete protection physically, emotionally and psychologically.
By way of contrast, condoms present an unacceptable level of risk due to high failure rates. When used as the sole means of contraception, condoms have a standardized failure rate of 15.7% over the course of a year.” This rate is calculated to show a number that applies to all condom users, but failure rates for specific groups show even higher numbers. Among young, unmarried, minority women the annual failure rate is 36.3%; among unmarried Hispanic women it is as high as 44.5%.
Therefore, for the average user over the course of a year, chances of getting pregnant while using a condom are 1 in 6. But unlike pregnancy, which can only occur 2-3 days a month, you can get AIDS any day of the month, 365 days a year. In addition, there is no condom strong enough to shield a child’s self-esteem. And latex offers no protection against broken hearts and shattered dreams.
Under the best circumstances, condoms present an unacceptable measure of risk. Despite billions spent on “safe sex” education, most teens fail to use condoms properly-if they use them at all. Currently, much less than half of all sexually active teens use condoms. Planned Parenthood’s own data shows that educating teens about sexuality and contraceptives does not result in increased contraceptive use. The same data also indicates that teenagers are ineffective users of contraceptives because of their developmental stage.
According to Dr. Nicholas Fiumara, Massachusetts Department of Health, there are certain conditions necessary to ensure condom effectiveness:”…provided there is no preliminary sex play, the condom is intact before use, the condom is put on correctly and the condom is taken off correctly. However, the male population has never been able to fulfill the very first requirement.”
One third of teenage pregnancies occur while a contraceptive is being used!
What exactly is abstinence?
Some sex educators have tried to “re-define” abstinence to mean non-penetration, thus allowing for oral sex, mutual masturbation, etc. But this definition doesn’t keep one from catching sexually transmitted diseases. It also misses the purpose of abstinence education, which is best defined as preserving sexual intimacy, and the powerful bonds it creates, for the commitment of marriage.
Governor Douglas Wilder of Virginia put it very succinctly in an editorial for the Wall Street Journal. Governor Wilder stated:
“More than ever, our young people must understand that making mature decisions; making life-long commitments; making structured and loving families-rather than merely making babies; and making the most of the opportunities that do exist in every aspect of life; these are the actions that constitute the beginning of a passage into manhood . . .
But-as common sense tell us-there are precautions to be taken by the young and the unmarried, especially for those who know that they are not remotely close to being ready for the unending responsibility of parenthood. If you want to have a future, it is imperative that our young-male and female alike-embrace the ultimate precaution – abstinence.”
Abstinence Education at Home
When should I begin to talk to my child about sex?
Sex education author and mother Connie Marshner emphasizes that the role of parents in their child’s sex education begins at an early age:
“Nobody loves your child like you do. If you don’t give your child your instruction, someone else will give them theirs. Even though you might think they are too young to understand, they’re absorbing information and values. In the absence of a countervailing set of ideas from you, they’ll be automatically absorbing ideas from somewhere else.
By the time the child is in high school and ready to date, which is the time when patents say we should `have the talk,’ their minds are already made up. Their values and patterns of behavior are set. The approach to training in sex begins when your child is born … children at 2- 3 can observe men and women interacting with each other and they’re learning something from it. If you’re walking in the park with your 3-year old and you see a couple of teenagers necking on the bench and you walk by and say nothing, your child draws his or her own conclusion, `Well, there’s nothing unusual about that, Mommy didn’t say anything.’
Whereas if you walk by and say `Well, they certainly shouldn’t be doing that in public. I hope they’re married,’ then the child makes the connection that this sort of cuddling has something to do with marriage. It’s not sex-ed. per se but it’s the beginning of laying down a pattern and attitude toward how one will behave sexually.”
How do I get started?
Sex education professionals Margaret Whitehead and Onalee McGraw offer several suggestions on how to teach your child family values. Whitehead and McGraw urge parents everywhere to build a foundation of love, respect and personal dignity in the home; teach children good manners that show respect for others; teach that self-control and good habits are important; and help children to understand that there are consequences to their actions and give them age-appropriate responsibilities.
As children head into the elementary school years, Whitehead and McGraw give additional guidelines on how you can instill behaviors which will assist in teaching abstinence. Given the powerful influence of peer pressure, Whitehead and McGraw believe that by showing them the importance of personal goals and virtues and by encouraging them to keep busy with positive activities, children are more likely to resist peer pressure.” You can also counter cultural and consumer forces which try to “rush” children into pseudo-maturity by patiently helping them develop the intellectual, social, spiritual, and emotional traits necessary to achieve maturity.
As the child progresses through the elementary school years and heads into puberty, Whitehead and McGraw recommend that you seriously consider the rules and regulations concerning dating life, such as: starting age, supervision, curfews, purposes of dating, and attitudes towards going steady.”
All through this process, you need to continually encourage children to develop such virtues and character traits as self-discipline, honesty, courage, perseverance, responsibility, respect, and concern for others. Children at this age need to have their feelings and concerns taken seriously by you, and at the same time you should be willing to help children place their feelings and concerns in the proper context.
But will kids listen to abstinence?
A December 1991 USA Today poll calls chastity the “second sexual revolution.” The poll shows that more than half of all adults (54%) and almost two thirds of teenagers (63%) find the so-called “safe sex” message disturbing since it implies an endorsement of casual sex. The poll also shows that the majority of adults AND TEENS agree that today’s adolescents don’t hear enough about saying “no” to sex.
But aren’t some kids going to “do it” anyway?
Some kids will drink anyway, but we’re not bashful about saying “don’t drink.” Some kids will do drugs anyway, but we’re not shy about saying “don’t do drugs.” Why are we afraid to tell kids “don’t have sex?” What if we took that approach with drug education? Since some kids will do drugs anyway, should we teach them how and provide clean needles?
How much risk is acceptable when you’re talking about your teenager’s life? One study of married couples, in which one partner was infected with the AIDS/HIV virus, showed that 17% of the non-infected partners caught the virus while using a condom for protection. Suppose your son or daughter was joining a year-long sky-diving club with five friends. If you knew that one of their parachutes would definitely fail, would you recommend that they simply buckle the chutes tighter? Certainly not. You would say, “Please don’t jump. Your life is at stake!” How could a loving parent do anything less?
Isn’t it simplistic to “just say no”?
Indeed, it’s not enough to “just say no.” What are we going to say “yes” to? Are we teaching our children those things that are worth living for: marriage, family, love, sex, respect, true friendships, and hope in life? Sex is one of the most complex and crucial issues they’ll face and simplistic solutions, whether condoms or rules, will not work.
The one thing that most profoundly changes a person with respect to sex, is personal commitment on the part of parents.
Focus on the Family has identified a number of resources to help parents educate their children regarding sex:
BOOKS FOR CHILDREN
CONCORDIA SEX EDUCATION SERIES
Each book is targeted toward a specific age group and is designed, in its vocabulary and the amount of information provided, to answer questions most typically asked by children. The theme of human sexuality, including delicate subject matters such as abortion, premarital sex, and homosexuality, are dealt with in a very tactful and healthy manner, yet without compromise. A strong emphasis is on the understanding that sex is a God-given gift which is to be used responsibly. The series is available at local Christian bookstores or through Concordia Publishing House, 3558 S. Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63118-3968, (800) 325-3040.
Book 1: Why Boys and Girls are Different by Carol Greene (Ages 3-5)
Through delightful pictures and simple words, this tool helps parents to delicately answer preschooler’s questions. An encouraging book for boys and girls that teaches how to accept their sexuality naturally, as God’s loving gift.
Book 2: Where Do Babies Come From? by Ruth Hummel (Ages 6-8)
Sensitive and carefully planned, this book shows your growing child God’s plan for new life, how boys and girls grow up to be fathers and mothers, how parents have a special love for each other and how God made their bodies to fit together, as well as how babies are born.
Book 3: How You Are Changing by Jane Traver (Ages 8-11)
This book speaks with understanding about the changes encountered in adolescence. A delicate, yet accurate explanation of the physiological aspects of sexuality, it offers a positive Christian perspective to help children develop a healthy, responsible view of God’s gift.
Book 4: Sex and the New You by Richard Bimler (Ages 11-14)
A sound description of the basic facts of sexuality: becoming a woman, becoming a man, sexual intercourse, conception, and birth. Relating sexuality to Christian concepts, answers are given to pre-teens most puzzling questions; including “How old should I be to date?” “What should I do on a date?” and “How can I show affection without going too far?” Questions on topics that aren’t easy to talk about receive special consideration as they relate to God’s plan: pornography, sexual experimentation, venereal disease, out of wedlock pregnancies, and homosexuality. It also encourages young people to discuss questions with parents.
Book 5: Love, Sex, and God by Bill Ameiss and Jane Graver (Ages 14 and up)
Following an explanation of male and female sexual systems, the authors confront the cruel myths regarding drugs, alcohol, and venereal diseases that often mislead teens. Included are biblical guidelines for social life; popularity, dating, setting limits, playing the field and going steady. A special section for older teens covers questions about love, marriage, sexuality within wedlock, and starting a family. As they face tough questions about sexuality, teens are urged to seek help from parents, pastor, and God.
Book 6: How to Talk Confidently With Your Child About Sex by Lenore Buth
Parent’s Guide. This guide will help parents feel confident with their own sexuality and prepare them to lay a solid foundation for their children. From toddler to teen to young adult, this reference book answers the many questions parents will encounter during each developmental stage.
BOOKS FOR PARENTS
Decent Exposure by Connie Marshner (Wolgemuth & Hyatt)
This valuable book offers insight on how to effectively teach children about modesty, the dangers of premarital sexual relations, and marriage.
How to Help Your Child Say “No” to Sexual Pressure by Josh McDowell (Here’s Life Publishers)
Beginning with a short discussion on the adolescent sexuality crisis, this book explores the causes, and shows how to prevent your child from becoming a statistic of today’s popular youth culture.
How to Teach Your Child About Sex by Grace Ketterman (Revell)
Ketterman offers a wholesome approach to raising sexually responsible, secure children.
Preparing For Adolescence by Dr. James Dobson (Vision House)
An insightful book for any adolescent. A discussion of topics that trouble teens most-inferiority, conformity, puberty, the meaning of love and the search for identity – is included.
Preparing Youth For Dating, Courtship and Marriage by Norman Wright (Gospel Light)
This teacher’s guide gives the instruction and material to prepare students for dating, courtship, and marriage. It includes 12 overhead transparencies and 4 masters for making copies.
Sex: When to Say Yes / Some Things Are Never Discounted (2 book set) by Fran and Jill Sciacca (Whitaker House)
These books challenge teens to share with God their struggles about sex. Each chapter includes a real-life story, personal study questions, and a summary on various aspects of dating and sexuality.
Sexuality and Sexually Transmitted Diseases by Dr. Joe S. McIlhaney Jr. (Baker Book House)
Dr. Mcilhaney frankly discusses the facts of sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) and their future physical implications. He demolishes the myth of “safe sex” outside of marriage, demonstrating that the only safe and proper sex is with one partner in a monogamous marriage relationship. He also offers tips to teens on how to say “no” to sex.
Smart Kids, Stupid Choices by Kevin Leman(Regal Books)
This book discusses peer pressure, friends, sex, drugs, dating, self-esteem and communication.
When Schools Teach Sex by Judith B . Elhaniz (Free Congress Research and Education Foundation)
A handbook for evaluating your school’s sex education program.
Why Wait: What You Need to Know About The Teen Sexuality Crisis by Josh McDowell (Here’s Life Publishers)
This book offers practical advice on how parents can teach their children to remain sexually pure and offers insight into the reasons teenagers become sexually active.
VIDEO SERIES
How to Help Your Child Say “No” to Sexual Pressure
An eight-part video series for parents of teens and preteens presented from a Christian perspective. This set is designed to help parents become more effective as the primary resource of sexual values for their children. Available from Josh McDowell Ministries, Box 1000, Dallas, TX 75221, (800) 222-JOSH.
A Parent’s Guide: Teaching Responsible Sexual Behavior
This training workshop helps parents become children’s primary source and guidance regarding sex education. Five two-hour sessions. Available from Teen-Aid, N. 1330 Calispel, Spokane, WA 99201, (509) 328-2080.
Abstinence Education at School
While parental commitment and a healthy self-image are key in instilling the values of abstinence, today’s children will receive most of their sex education in the school system. Parents who have followed the principles outlined above can still feel hopeless when their child is turned over to a sex education curriculum which seeks to tear down the values that the parent has tried so hard to build.
Fortunately, curricula have been developed in recent years that support these values, instead of ridiculing and rejecting them. Many of these curricula have proven records of effectiveness. Sex education researcher, Dr. Dinah Richard, after following one program in Texas, notes that “70% of the students said that they were making a commitment to abstinence until marriage. At Canyon High School, the pregnancy rate dropped by two-thirds over a two year period after [the abstinence curriculum] was implemented.”
While both parents and students want to see abstinence taught in the public schools, they often face serious roadblocks by organizations which do not share their viewpoint. Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union have challenged abstinence programs in court, because “abstinence is a principle taught in the Bible” and therefore it violates the separation of church and state. However, Dr. Richard points out that schools already teach that it is wrong to steal, cheat, lie, rape, and murder, all of which comes straight out of the Bible.
If your school board uses this as an argument to reject abstinence-based sex education, you can point out that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in Bowen v. Kendrick (1988) that abstinence programs serve a legitimate secular purpose and do not violate the separation of church and state.
Abstinence can be instilled at home and taught in the schools. For more information on abstinence curriculum, Focus on the Family recommends the following:
Facing Reality This is a new high school curriculum offered by Project Respect. Their address is Box 97, Golf, IL 60029-0097, (708) 729-3298.
Foundations For Family Life Education An informative guide book for professionals and parents interested in teaching abstinence-based sex education is available from Educational Guidance Institute, Inc., 927 S. Walter Reed Drive., Suite #4., Arlington, VA 22204, (703) 486-8313.
Has Sex Education Failed Our Teenagers? This special report by Dinah Richard, Ph.D contains detailed statistics, information, and additional resources to help concerned individuals find a solution to teenage pregnancy. This report is available through Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO 80995 or (719) 633-6287. In Canada, P.O Box 9800, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 4G3, (604) 684-8333.
Healthy Sex Education in Your Schools: A Parent’s Handbook This companion to Has Sex Education Failed Our Teenagers? offers a plan for parents who want to see abstinence and moral responsibility taught in their child’s school. Available from Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO 80995 or by calling (719) 633-6287. In Canada, P.0 Box 9800, Vancouver B.C. V6B 4-G3 or (604) 684-8333.
Families, Decision-Making and Human Development This curriculum invites junior and senior high students to live in ways which promote their future, encourage personal health and foster emotional well-being. The importance of family relationships, human reproduction, and AIDS is also dealt with. It is available from Pnuema Press, 2275 Westpark Court, Suite 201, Euless, TX 76040, (817) 267-6847.
Learning About Myself and Others (LAMO) This program is designed for children in grades 1 to 6 and is presented from a traditional perspective with an emphasis on premarital abstinence, traditional family, and marriage. To enhance communication between parent and child, parents are required to attend with their children. Available from Anne Nesbit, R.R.3 Orchard Circle, Pittsfield, MA 01201, (413) 698-2688.
Me, My World, My Future A fifteen-unit middle school program, it stresses the postponement of immediate gratification in exchange for future goals. Sexual activity is discussed from a family-values perspective and the consequences of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco are examined. Available from Teen-Aid, N. 1330 Calispel, Seattle, WA 99201, (509) 328-2080.
Sex Respect: The Option of True Sexual Freedom This values-based three-week program for junior or senior highers, offers separate workbooks for teens, teachers, and parents. Available from Respect Incorporated, P.0 Box 349, Bradley, IL 60915-0349, (815) 932-8389 or Project Respect, Box 97, Golf, IL 60029-0097, (708) 729-3298.
Sexuality, Commitment, and Family A three week, morality-based program for public high schools is available from Teen-Aid Inc., N.1330 Calispel, Seattle, WA 99201, (509) 328-2080.
Teaching True Abstinence Sex Education This is a teacher’s manual of “hands on” activities and suggestions for conveying the true abstinence message. It emphasizes the areas proven to be important factors in reducing sexual activity among teens. Contact Project Respect, Box 97, Golf, IL 60029-0097, (708) 729-3298.
Many school districts also mandate that AIDS education be incorporated into sex education classes. Focus on the Family recommends the following resources:
Who Do You Listen To? Sex In The Age of AIDS This is a thirty-minute AIDS education film created for the public school system. The film presents a positive message in a dramatic classroom setting. The teacher’s lecture and student-teacher interaction presents medical facts about AIDS with scenes of adolescents, struggling with moral decisions while in a dating situation, help to underscore the right choices for teens. A visit to an AIDS hospice helps viewers realize the tragedy of the disease and the importance of remaining sexually abstinence Available on free loan to public schools through Gospel Films, Box 455, Muskegon, MI 49443, (800) 253-0413. Film details can be obtained from Why Wait?, Josh McDowell Ministries, Box 1000, Dallas, TX 75221, (214) 907- 1000.
HIV: You Can Live Without It Developed by Teen Aid Inc., this AIDS curriculum stresses abstinence. Available from Teen-Aid Inc., N. 1330 Calispel, Spokane, WA 99201, (509) 466-8679 or (509) 328-2080.
AIDS: A Risky Business For Everyone Developed by Colleen Mast as a supplement to the Sex Respect curriculum, this program discusses the high fatality rate of AIDS, the levels of infection, the transmission of the virus, and prevention through the avoidance of drugs, premarital
sex, extramarital sex, and homosexual activity. It refutes the “safe sex” myth via condoms. Available from Respect Inc., P.0 Box 349, Bradley, IL 60915- 0349,(815)932-8389.
AIDS and Young People Written by Robert Redfield, M.D., of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and Wanda Franz, associate professor of family resources at the University of West Virginia. It covers the definition of AIDS, the origin of the virus, how people die from AIDS, the means of transmission, the extent of the disease, the categories of people infected, tests for AIDS, how to avoid getting AIDS, and the myth of “safe sex”. Available from Concerned Women for America, Coalition for Appropriate Sex Education, 370 L’Enfant Promenade S.W., Suite 800, Washington D.C. 20024, (800) 458-8797 or Project Respect, Committee on the Status of Women, Box 97, Gulf, IL 60029-0097, (312) 729-3298.
No Second Chance An emotionally charged film presented by Kathy Kay, R.N., it addresses the issues of AIDS and sexual abstinence. A public school version is also available. Contact Jeremiah Films, Dept. B, P.0. Box 1710, Hemet, CA 92343, (800) 828-2290 or in California (800) 633-0869.
Will “Safe Sex” Education Effectively Combat AIDS? An informal paper developed by the Department of Education, it refutes the fallacy of “safe sex”. It cites seventy-eight sources that show why condoms are not effective in preventing the transmission of the AIDS virus, and why premarital abstinence and marital fidelity are important. Contact the U.S Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Room 4019, Washington D.C. 20202, (202) 732-4024.
If you would like more information regarding abstinence or other family matters, contact Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO 80995, (719) 633-6287.
(The above information was published by FOCUS ON THE FAMILY, 1992)
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