Researcher: Abstinence Ed still the best

by Carlina Villalpando
The Daily Times
Published August 7, 2005

When it comes to formal sexual education, the debate has been on-going. Which is better to teach — abstinence or safe-sex?

At first glance, Dr. Patricia J. Sulak, a leading contraceptive researcher, might not seem like the most obvious abstinence advocate. However, she said no matter how you look at the subject, abstinence is the best, most effective method for preventing pregnancy and the safest (physically and emotionally) for teenagers.

On Thursday morning, Sulak addressed two separate crowds — health-care professionals, educators and parents — about the advantages, all primarily health-related, of “delaying the onset of sexual activity.”

The program, “What Adults need to Know about Teens and Sex,” was sponsored by Kerrville Independent School District, Kerr Bandera County Medical Society, Alpha-Omega Life Center, and the Doyle School Community Center.

“I’m probably the only contraceptive researcher in the world that promotes abstinence,” Sulak said. “Abstinence is the only thing that is 100-percent effective in preventing pregnancy and STDs with no emotional problems, either”

Sulak, an obstetrician and gynecologist with Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple, is the creator of “Worth the Wait,” a sex-education curriculum for sixth-graders through high schoolers that focuses on the health benefits of abstinence.

The program teaches kids that, from a medical standpoint, there is no such thing as safe sex for a teenager. On Thursday, she explained that teenagers who are sexually active are more susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases, because they are physically less mature and tend to have partners who are not sexually responsible.

“They’re more susceptible to infection, especially girls whose genital tracts are not matured,” Sulak said.

Sulak said that 75 percent of girls who have many STDs, such as chlamydia, do not know they are infected.

“That’s why STDs are rampant, because most people who have them don’t even know it,” she said.

Sulak said that about 3 million pap smears return “abnormal” every year — all showing pre-cancerous cells that require treatment. Many of those are tests from teenage girls, who will have cervical cancer years down the road, she said.

“I’m taking care of 40- and 50-year-old women who made bad decisions when they were teenagers because they got mixed messages,” Sulak said.

On Tuesday, she was very frank, admitting that teenage sexual activity brings in lots of business, but said that is money she and the industry at large could easily do without.

“A lot of people are making a lot of money off of kids having sex,” Sulak said. “It’s a multi-million dollar business.”

In 2003, more than 40 million teenage girls had babies, and almost 1.5 million were delivered to girls younger than 17 years old.

Sulak said the cost to society of kids 17 years old or younger having children is estimated at $29 billion annually. That’s a lot of money, she said, that is goes toward “damage control.”

Far less, she added, is spent where it should be — on prevention.

“We’re spending a lot of money on things that are preventable,” Sulak said. “The good news is that figure is going down.”

From 1990 to 2003, the number of babies born to teenage parents has plummeted, Sulak said.

She added that recent research has shown that abstinence was credited for at least two-thirds of that decline.

“What we’re saying is working. All the statistics are proven; all the data is there,” she said. “Abstinence education works.”

Sulak said simply telling kids “no” is not what makes abstinence works. What makes the difference, she said, is teaching them to be focused and goal-oriented.

“The people who are making good decision in their 30s and 40s started making them in high school,” Sulak said. “Those high school years are wonderful years. I think the major thing we can do as adults is be good examples.

“We need to let kids know that relationships are most important,” Sulak said. “We need to let them know when they have sex, and whomever they have it with, is one of the most important decisions they will make.”