Abstinence-only still being taught despite high pregnancy rates

For more than a decade, public school districts throughout the Rio Grande Valley and the state have taught students to wait until marriage to have sex to avoid getting pregnant and contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

It hasn’t worked for everyone.

Last year alone, almost 2,000 teenage girls in the Valley ages 13-17 became pregnant, about a dozen fewer than the year before.

In both years, the Valley’s pregnancy rate was the highest in the state.

Pregnancy isn’t the only concern.

The number of people in the Valley who contracted chlamydia and/or gonorrhea rose by more than 1,500 people from 2007 to 2008. And while the state does not break them down by regions and ages, the highest percentages of cases statewide are among people ages 15-24.

GETTING THE WORD OUT

Reta Durham knew something had to change when she noticed the Edcouch-Elsa school district’s efforts to teach children to wait until marriage to have sex weren't working.

Students were still becoming parents or contracting STDs. In the 2007-08 school year alone, about 100 of the district’s 1,582 high school students were either going to have a baby or were already parents, Durham said.

“I thought, ‘This is ridiculous,’” said Durham, the chairwoman of Edcouch-Elsa High School’s family and consumer science department. “This is really sad for these kids.”

She and other educators at Edcouch-Elsa pushed the district to adopt a more comprehensive sex education program.

Last year, the district decided to take a new approach toward teaching high school students about the birds and the bees. The high school began teaching the Big Decisions curriculum, which is marketed as an “abstinence-plus” program, last year in hopes of curbing that trend.

Edcouch-Elsa joins other districts throughout the state that have switched to such programs after determining abstinence-only initiatives, which have been required in the state for many years, were not working.

Abstinence-plus programs are in line with state recommendations because they still teach that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective method of avoiding pregnancy and contracting STDs, but they include mentioning other forms of birth control as other ways to help prevent getting pregnant or catching a disease.

Before, “we just had to tell the kids, ‘Don’t have sex,’” Durham said. “Some students didn’t even know that’s how you get pregnant.”

Edcouch-Elsa learned about the abstinence-plus program through the Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County, which gave a presentation on the curriculum a couple of years ago.

“We feel it’s a little more comprehensive,” said Martha Leos, the association’s education supervisor.

Teachers are not allowed to bring in condoms or other forms of birth control to show students, Durham said. And as with any sex education program, Edcouch-Elsa High School had parents sign permission slips for their children to take the course.

Edcouch-Elsa High has only been using the Big Decisions curriculum for a year, so it’s too early to tell how effective it is, Durham said. But so far her students seem responsive and their parents seem to support the new learning model.

Leos believes the community is becoming more receptive to such programs because teen pregnancy rates are such a problem.

“We can’t put our heads in the sand anymore,” she said. “We have to give medically accurate information.”

One of the curriculum’s strengths, Leos said, is that it includes a component aimed at helping parents to talk with their children about sex.

“Parents need to be more aware now (and be) communicating their values,” she said.

Many other school districts in Hidalgo County, however, are sticking with abstinence-only programs in compliance with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards for health education. TEKS standards are guidelines set by the State Board of Education as to what objectives should be met in certain subjects.

The McAllen school district’s school health advisory council is reviewing new abstinence-only programs because the district feels the one being used in schools now is outdated, said Mario Reyna, the district’s coordinator for health and physical education and after-school enrichment programs. The school system also uses the Parenting and Paternity Awareness curriculum, which teaches parenting skills to high school students and young adults who are already parents.

The Edinburg school district adopted a learning model dubbed Choosing the Best. Though billed as an abstinence-only program, it also includes discussion about the use of condoms and other birth control methods but stops short of supporting them, according to its Web site.

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

Society has become more sexualized in recent years, some parents note. But they have different opinions on who should be the one explaining the birds and the bees to their children.

McAllen parent Javier Rangel said he’s making sure his children don’t go through what he did when he was a teenager.

Rangel, 43, said he dropped out of high school and married his girlfriend after she got pregnant. He was working low-paying jobs to support his family and the marriage ended in divorce. Rangel remarried and returned to school, earning an associate degree in information technology, and is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree.

He talks with his children about the struggles he went through in hopes they don’t follow the same path.

“You can only educate them … only do so much,” he said. “The last choice is going to be made by them.”

Sex education courses were offered when Rangel was in high school, but he believes parents should be the ones responsible for teaching their children about sex.

“I just don’t think that school is the place to do that,” he said. “I think schools should teach what prepares (students) for college.”

But Dalia Sanchez, who has a son in junior high school and is an elementary school nurse in San Juan, said she appreciates such programs because they help parents explain to their children the changes they’re going through.

At the school where she works, Clover Elementary, educators follow state guidelines for talking about puberty and reproduction with students at the elementary level, she said.

“Some kids don’t get anything from the parents,” she pointed out.

Such programs can help open a dialogue between parents and their children, especially if parents feel embarrassed or uncomfortable talking about puberty and sex, Sanchez said.

Even at the elementary level, she receives a lot of questions from students.

“They’re very curious nowadays,” she said.

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Jennifer L. Berghom covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4462.