Choosing the Best responds to the
“60 Minutes” broadcast that aired May 22

On Sunday, May 22, CBS News/60 Minutes aired a story about abstinence education that included brief references to Choosing the Best. Below, Choosing the Best provides clarification regarding some of the topics discussed during this broadcast.

• Choosing the Best does educate about contraceptives but does not demonstrate or advocate contraceptive use.

60 Minutes reported that for abstinence “programs to receive federal funding, they cannot talk about the health benefits of condoms—only about how they fail.” 60 minutes also reported that if teachers follow the CTB curricula, “they can’t tell students that when condoms are used consistently and correctly, they are nearly always effective.”

Choosing the Best promotes risk elimination rather than risk reduction but provides information regarding the effectiveness of condoms with respect to pregnancy and various sexually transmitted diseases. For example, on page 25 of CTB LIFE, Choosing the Best states that condoms can reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS by 85% versus not using a condom at all if used consistently.

On page 30, Choosing the Best LIFE offers a complete listing of contraceptive options ranked by typical user annual failure rate of those options, starting with no contraception (85% failure rate), including the male condom (14-15% failure rate), other contraceptive options, and abstinence (0% failure rate). Also shown on this chart is the effectiveness of each of these methods against HIV/STDs.

Choosing the Best does educate about contraceptives; however, CTB does not advocate or demonstrate contraceptive use. Choosing the Best helps teenagers understand the truth about contraceptives: at best they can only reduce certain physical risks; the idea of “safe sex” is a myth; and abstinence is the only way to eliminate physical and emotional risks associated with premarital sex.

60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley asked a guest on this show, “You’re telling kids not to have sex. But some kids are going to have sex…If he comes to you and says, ‘You know, I’m going to have sex. I’ve reached a point and I’m going to do this. Should I use a condom?’ What do you say?”

Although Bruce Cook, president of Choosing the Best, declined to be interviewed by 60 Minutes, Mr. Cook would now like to provide his perspective on this subject. Cook states, “The reason a kid would come to me to discuss this in the first place is that he’s looking for guidance. At that time he needs a clear statement from me that abstinence—risk elimination—is the best choice and will allow him to pursue his life dreams and goals without fear of an unintended pregnancy or STD. Then I would educate him on what condoms will and won’t protect against, for example, that if used consistently and correctly they can reduce the risk of getting pregnant and of contracting some STDs like gonorrhea and HIV. However, condoms provide limited risk reduction for STDs like genital herpes and HPV that are spread by skin-to-skin contact. Condoms provide no protection against the emotional pain and hurt experienced by some young people from premarital sex. Condoms can also break and slip off in which case there is no risk reduction at all. With these facts in mind I would ask him to reconsider his decision and choose the best—abstinence.

• The pledge study results discussed by Peter Bearman do not relate to Choosing the Best

60 Minutes interviewed Peter Bearman, who co-authored a study conducted on virginity pledges. Bearman reported and discussed findings from his study that concluded that 88% of pledgers (to be abstinent until marriage) broke their pledge; there were no differences in STD infection rates between pledgers and non-pledgers and that adolescents that pledge are more likely to substitute oral and/or anal sex for vaginal sex.

Choosing the Best was not evaluated in this study and therefore the results of this study do not represent Choosing the Best. In fact, a major limitation of this study is that the context in which these students made their pledge is not clear. For example, one cannot tell if a student was exposed to a week long abstinence program or an hour long assembly and then took the pledge, or was merely stopped in the hall. While a pledge is an important component of an overall abstinence program, a pledge alone is not enough. The pledge must be part of a thorough and compelling abstinence program such as Choosing the Best that contains extensive health and medical information, relationship education, refusal skill training, parent involvement, and character education, supported in a motivational learning environment.

With respect to a reported finding about STD rates, this conclusion was based on an inappropriate grouping of both “inconsistent pledgers”— those who at one time reported taking a pledge and then later reporting that they didn’t — along with “consistent pledgers.” When you compare results among only “consistent pledgers” with “non-pledgers,” the data reveals that consistent pledgers had a lower STD rate of 4.6 percent, compared to 6.9 percent among non-pledgers. The authors failed to focus on these findings.

The last reported finding underscores that abstinence programs must include, as does Choosing the Best, the importance of abstaining from all at-risk sexual activities, including vaginal, anal, and oral sex, as well as mutual masturbation.

• Choosing the Best is based on a health model and does not promote religion.

60 Minutes guest Peter Bearman claimed that some abstinence educators were really trying to advance religion instead of improving public health.

Choosing the Best programs do not include any references to religion whatsoever. The philosophy of Choosing the Best is that abstinence education is about health for our teens. Although some teens that choose abstinence may also be influenced by their personal religious convictions, abstinence education is about making healthy choices to be free from the risks of STDs, unplanned pregnancy and negative emotional consequences. It is about freedom to pursue future dreams and goals, regardless of religious preference or conviction.

• Choosing the Best teaches that there are some possible negative emotional effects for some teens that engage in premarital sex.

60 Minutes reported that a lesson in Choosing the Best LIFE teaches that “Any sex before marriage is emotionally devastating.”

In fact, the first lesson in CTB LIFE covers the possible emotional effects of premarital sexual involvement. The topics include “six of the most common emotional effects” and the language of the entire chapter is based on effects that “can” or “might” happen to “some” teens. Although 60 minutes had received a copy of the Choosing the Best LIFE curriculum well in advance of this broadcast, their assessment of its content was inaccurate.