ACLU: Sex ed should be accurate

WASHINGTON, April 28 (UPI) -- The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the Bush administration to ensure that abstinence-only sex education materials provide accurate information.

The ACLU made the request in a letter that accompanied a 20-page document put together by Dr. John Santelli, a pediatrician at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Santelli lists information provided in federally funded programs that he says is wrong.

This includes claims that condoms are an ineffective method of preventing pregnancy and HIV infection. Santelli found claims that there is a one-in-six chance of pregnancy with condom use, condoms fail to prevent HIV infection almost one-third of the time, and in 15 percent of the times they are used condoms, break or come off.

LeAnna Benn, national director of Teen-Aid Inc., called Santelli's report "all regurgitated stuff." Christina Pearson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the department helps grantees provide accurate information.

But Ava Barbour, a staff attorney with the ACLU, said HHS has done little.

"They have been alerted numerous times, and they haven't done anything," she said.