Amanda Hoover’s opinion column yesterday was way off the mark.

Her assertion was that President Bush and the religious right are hurting America by teaching sexual abstinence to teens.

She admits that abstinence is the only certain way to prevent pregnancy, but claims that the Bush administration has “wasted” $135 million on promoting it. That’s less than 50 cents for every American. That’s money well spent.

She also states that the Title X and Planned Parenthood programs have prevented over 9 million abortions, but gives no indication of how they did this. Did they teach abstinence? Did they give morning-after pills to minors without their parent’s consent?

In the last 20 years, there have been about 30 million abortions in the US. The odds appear to be 30:9 that Title X programs and Planned Parenthood’s methods don’t work.

Amanda goes on to say that it is the responsibility of parents, not the government, to teach abstinence. In principle, I agree, but I do not limit it to abstinence.

Parents are responsible for teaching everything to their children that will make them successful in life. Will “free sex” really make people successful in life?

If all parents were doing their jobs, we would not need federal abstinence programs, Title X, Planned Parenthood, “

In reality, many Americans are not living up to proper moral standards, and our children are suffering as a result of it. It is not surprising that many young adults are morally inept.

America cannot survive if we continue on the well-paved road to total moral relativism. Folks who understand this are part of the nation-wide resurgence of conservatism. Folks who do not understand this continue to rant about moral problems without offering real answers.

Gary Nonnemacher Math Instructor

[email protected]