Mark Twain didn't think much of statistics, comparing them unfavorably to "damned lies." And critics feel the same about figures in a new report that show comprehensive sex education can reduce teen sexual activity and the risk of sexually transmitted infections.

Nevertheless, the report from the independent Task Force on Community Preventive Services merits a thoughtful look. Particularly in Utah, where cases of HIV increased 32 percent from 2007 to 2008, gonorrhea infection nearly tripled in the same period, and the incidence of chlamydia increased faster than anywhere else in the U.S. And where the Legislature will soon consider a reasonable proposal to let parents choose between a comprehensive sex education class or the current abstinence-based course.

A 19-member panel of experts brought together by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed and analyzed 83 studies of sex education programs in schools and non-school settings between 1980 and 2007. It looked at programs that provide risk-reduction education, including information about contraception, either by itself or along with promotion of abstinence.

Its conclusion: Programs that give adolescents and teenagers comprehensive information about the dangers of unprotected sex and how to avoid them are effective in reducing sexual activity and sexually transmitted infections, while increasing the use of protection against pregnancy and STIs.

The panel also looked at

Advertisement
studies of abstinence-only education. Although the experts found evidence that those programs also can have a positive effect, the report says the evidence is inconclusive because of the methods used in the studies. Sex-education critics say the report's conclusions give abstinence programs less credit than they deserve.

In Utah, abstinence is emphasized as the best way to avoid sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy. Many teachers don't even talk about condoms, since state law forbids their encouraging contraception, and teachers are afraid to be wrongly perceived as doing so.

But there is no conflict in teaching about both contraceptive use and abstinence, as some legislators and parents fear. And there is no reason to believe, as some do, that talking about "safe sex" will lead teenagers to have sex who otherwise wouldn't. On the contrary, the report indicates that comprehensive sex education reduces sexual activity.

Utah should make comprehensive sex education available and let parents decide.