On the heels of allegations of a federal cover-up regarding the effectiveness of condoms, hundreds of people from around the world are meeting in Miami this week to promote another method of “safe sex” – abstinence-until-marriage education.
The first-ever International Abstinence Conference, entitled “Abstinence – Taking the World by Storm,” boasts more than 500 representatives from 18 countries and 38 states. The conference is hosted by the National Abstinence Clearinghouse, which bills itself as the world’s largest abstinence-until-marriage organization.
“We receive frequent cries of help from Europe, Africa and other nations for aid in combating the devastating physical and emotional consequences of premarital sexual activity,” said Leslee Unruh, president and founder of the group. “We see this conference as an opportunity for abstinence educators to come together, network ideas and have a lasting effect on the young people of their countries.”
The conference, which began last night and continues through tomorrow, focuses on equipping educators, health professionals, parents and youth leaders to effectively present education that promotes not having sex until marriage.
Participants include U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., Dr. Wade Horn, president of the National Fatherhood Initiative, and Dirk Been, last summer’s “virgin” contestant from the CBS show “Survivor.”
On Tuesday of this week, a group of doctors blasted the federal government on the issue of “safe sex.” The 10,000-member Physicians Consortium claimed the Centers for Disease Control has for more than a year suppressed a study on the effectiveness of condoms, thus endangering thousands of Americans.
“The entire public health model developed by the CDC and based on the idea that condoms offer protection, is a lie,” said Dr. Hall Wallis, a member of the consortium. “The skeleton is now out of the closet.”
The doctors claimed the CDC has known for many years that while condoms are 85 percent effective in helping stop the spread of HIV, they are less effective in protection against sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and genital herpes.
News about the shortfalls of condoms was issued in a panel report last Friday by the National Institutes of Health.
“This has all the earmarks of a good old-fashioned medical cover-up,” said Dr. John R. Diggs Jr., a consortium member from Massachusetts.
According to Friday’s report, about 15 million new STD infections occur in the U.S. each year. To date, some 493,000 Americans have died from AIDS and over 800,000 are HIV-positive.
In a July 23 letter to President Bush, the consortium of physicians called on CDC Director Dr. Jeffrey Koplan to resign, saying “only fresh and bold leadership” would help battle what it calls an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases.
Bush, who has long advocated the effectiveness of abstinence but is not attending the Miami event, said in a letter to the clearinghouse: “I commend participants for your efforts to foster knowledge and encourage behavior that can protect the health of young people around the world and help them make the right choices.”
