The abstinence outrage

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said he won't re-apply for federal funds to keep an abstinence-only sex education program, and fireworks began as predictably as if it were the Fourth of July.

Abstinence advocates point to dropping teenage birth rates -- which, objectively, are influenced by a number of factors -- while opponents say the program has not been tracked as meticulously as it should. Meanwhile, state Rep. Bill Seitz throws in a disparaging quote about "free-condoms-for-everybody" programs that only serves to be incendiary.

The unmentioned outrage, for some of us, is that no one seems upset that Ohio schoolchildren continue to be cheated of comprehensive health education because no one wants to wrestle with the volatile issue of teaching about human sexuality. That's cowardly. It's downright neglectful.

Understanding how to manage one's own health is essential information, one sign of being a well-educated individual. Health habits -- good or bad -- start early and, by adulthood, are incredibly difficult to change.

Before people get up in arms about how abstinence fits into the public school curriculum, they should understand how precious little "curriculum" is actually there for it to fit in.