The Guttmacher Institute is the policy review arm of Planned Parenthood. This morning I was reading thh Summer 2010 article about abstinence education - they are very disappointed that seom of the TItle V Abstinence Ed funds have been restored through the health care bill. I would argue that this is still a set-back for abstinence education because programs cannot solely teach abstinence. The Guttmacher article lambasts social conservatives and the Bush Administration's guidelines for abstinence education because it included teaching that "a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity" and that "sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological dn phsyical effects." According to Guttmacher, those statements are highly controversial and destructive.
Clearly, the Guttmacher is disconnected from reality. However, even a feminist psychiatrist, Dr. Louann Brizendine, extensively notes in her book, The Female Brain, that sexual behavior outside of marriage IS harmful. Also, check out this article from the Heritage Foundation.