An Abstinence Debate to Chew On

Regarding the Feb. 10 front-page article "Students Get Lessons to Chew On":

My daughter attended the same Rockville Pregnancy Center lecture given in Montgomery County schools at the McLean Presbyterian Church nine years ago, and it was a success in this young girl's life. She is now a senior in college, and she remembers that talk to this day. It helped her get through high school and college feeling encouraged that abstinence was the best way to protect her body and her heart until she was ready to commit to marriage.

Please don't stop these lectures; they provide such a great springboard for communication between parents and children. The concept is life-changing and gives kids encouragement during a mixed-up time of life.

PATTY WEBBER

Great Falls

?

So it took a disgusting gum-sharing exercise for Montgomery County Public Schools to realize that the Rockville Pregnancy Center has no business in its health education classes?

Even if there is no overt religious content in the center's school presentations, such organizations routinely present disinformation in the service of promoting their socially conservative moral agendas. They try to instill doubt about the effectiveness of condoms in preventing sexually transmitted disease and of oral contraceptives in preventing unwanted pregnancy. And they greatly exaggerate the medical and psychological risks of legal abortion.

Public schools must ensure that students receive accurate, scientifically based information to help them navigate the complicated issues of human sexuality.