Abstinence Includes Sexual Activity Says Maryland Middle School
By Hilary White

POTOMAC, November 24, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Maryland Gazette reports today that the eighth-grade health class at Herbert Hoover Middle School identifies two types of sexual intercourse as “abstinence.”

It would seem that even after decades of sex ed, saturation of sexual imagery in the media and the virtual abolition of sexual mores since the 1960’s that educators still cannot effectively identify the sexual act.

Webster’s College dictionary defines the verb “to abstain” as “to refrain voluntarily, especially from something regarded as improper or unhealthy.” A chart showing different forms of contraception in the Herbert Hoover health class, however, includes three types of “abstinence” : “no intercourse,” “withdrawal” (ejaculation outside of the body) and “rhythm” (no intercourse during ovulation).

Parents have complained to the school saying that their children were being put at risk by the misinformation. Cindy Richards said, “Since when did the term abstinence change to include the two most ineffective forms of birth control possible?” The rest