Congressman Justifies Getting Rid Of Sex Ed Because ‘Mankind Has Existed
For A Long Time’ Without It
According to Rep. Louie
Gohmert (R-TX), kids do not need sexual education because mankind has been fine
for a long time without it. Right Wing Watch reports that Gohmert took offense at forcing “this sexuality
stuff” onto kids.
“Let the kids be innocent,”
Gohmert said on a Christian radio show. “Let them dream. Let them play. Let
them enjoy their life. You don’t have to force this sexuality stuff into their
life at such a point. It was never intended to be that way. They’ll find out
soon enough.” He added, “Mankind has existed for a pretty long time without
anyone ever having to give a sex-ed lesson to anybody. And now we feel like, oh
gosh, people are too stupid to unless we force them to sit and listen to
instructions. It’s just incredible.”
What Gohmert is suggesting —
to hope kids simply find out for themselves how to safely have sex — would
invariably lead to higher teen pregnancy rates and higher STD rates. A 2012
Guttmacher Institute study found that comprehensive sexual education “was associated with
healthier sexual behaviors” among teens, compared to those who received no sex
ed in school. Not only did those teens have lower rates of pregnancy, but they
also waited longer to have sex. The same advocates of abstinence-education
would achieve their goal — for kids to wait longer — if they told students
everything they need to know.
But for Gohmert, explaining
contraceptives in schools reminds him of the Soviet Union, where children belonged
to the state.
There are only 22 states require public schools teach sex education, and 19 states require
it to be medically accurate. So it comes as little surprise that the states
with inadequate standards see more teen pregnancy.
States don’t agree that
it’s a good idea to cut back on sex ed. Last month, Illinois banned abstinence-only
education. Massachusetts recently expanded its health curriculum in a dozen middle schools to prevent the spread of chlamydia, the most commonly reported STD
in the country. And in Ohio, high school students are teaching comprehensive sex ed
to their peers to combat rising STD rates
in the state.
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