The United States has the highest rate of sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs) of any industrialized nation. Yet some experts contend
the U.S. has no concerted, national campaign to prevent and cure
infection. While new AIDS cases have fallen dramatically in the U.S.,
adolescents, minorities and women suffer disproportionately high rates
of all sexual infections. The Bush administration says abstinence is the
only 100 percent effective approach to avoiding STDs and bars any
organization receiving federal funding for abstinence-only education
from discussing contraceptives, except to point out their failure rates.
But public health officials see condoms as an essential protective
device against STDs and say the abstinence-only message deprives
teenagers of crucial, life-saving information and makes little sense in
developing countries, where married women are the fastest-growing group
infected with AIDS. CQ Researcher Sexually Transmitted Diseases v.14-42 |
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