New Agenda author sets the record straight on Gov. Palin and sex ed.

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At The New Agenda, Henrietta provides another good fisking of the leftist lie, propagated by an all-too willing lamestream media, of Sarah Palin's position on the issue of sex education:

Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol seem to be on the same wave length when it comes to sex education. Both support abstinence education. And both support birth control education. Sounds like a contradiction, right? Actually, it is not. abstinence education in conjunction with birth control education are the main components of comprehensive sex education, which most Americans support.

But the media has been getting this story wrong for some time now and it is widely believed even today that Sarah Palin supports abstinence-only education. NPR got it wrong back in 2008. As did the The Washington Post, MSNBC, ABC News and The Wallstreet Journal .

Unfortunately, many feminists have followed the misinformation of the mainstream media.

[...]

Most media sources mistakenly took Palin’s strong rejection of explicit sex-education as proof that she is a proponent of abstinence-only education. Too bad the media didn’t dig a little deeper because they would have discovered that Palin had spoken openly in support of comprehensive sex education during this time.

In fact, weeks later Palin clarified her position on sex education. During a KTOO radio debate Palin spoke further about her support of both abstinence and contraception education:

[...]

Also during the presidential election Palin’s spokeswoman Maria Comella said that Governor Palin stands by her 2006 position and supports a sex education curriculum that covers both abstinence and contraception education.

I know, I know. This was news back in 2008 and the topic of Palin’s sex education stance more often comes up now due to the activism of her daughter Bristol. But it is a rumor that has traction and due to her family circumstances their is a sexist element to this rumor as well. By claiming Palin to be an abstinence-only advocate it becomes fun to mock Palin as the clueless mother of a teenage mom.

We must also correct this rumor in order to make the media culpable. If we do not take them to task are we not giving them the green light to partake in dangerously inaccurate reporting with future women candidates? I’m afraid to find out.

Read Henrietta's unabridged op-ed at The New Agenda.

- JP

Sarah Palin Was Right #25: Peer-Reviewed Study on Abstinence Ed.

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The common-sense conservatism of Sarah Palin has been vindicated yet again:

During the campaign the left made a big deal out of Palin’s support for abstinence only sex education. After it was learned that her daughter was pregnant the left used it to “prove” that abstinence education did not work. This is like saying that Ted Kennedy’s accident that killed a young woman (who was not his wife) is proof that driver’s education does not work.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Palin bash. A new study shows that abstinence only education has better results than safe sex classes. Jack Cafferty of CNN presented the study fairly when he reported:

that only “33 percent of sixth and seventh graders who took an abstinence-only program began having sex within two years,” compared to “52 percent who were taught only about safe sex…[and] 42 percent who learned about both safe sex and abstinence,”

In true government fashion, Obama’s budget cuts funding for the most successful program of the three.

The full post on Big Dog's Weblog is here.

- JP