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American VirginsINTRO:Hello, I'm Mark Hertsgaard in San Francisco, and welcome to Spotlight, Link TV's investigative news show, featuring documentaries from around the world, reporting stories usually missed by American television.This week our spotlight is on the abstinence debate in the United States. Many Christian conservatives, including President Bush, believe American adolescents should hear a simple, consistent message: only abstinence offers true protection against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Schools should teach kids to just say "No" to sex, not teach them how to have it safely. It's a controversial message, but it's now government policy. The documentary you're about to see explores the debate by going inside an abstinence campaign in Pennsylvania that's headed by a Christian preacher who believes the end of the world is imminent and kids have to give Jesus the right answer to get into heaven. We'll be back afterwards with an update. For now, from the BBC in Britain, here is "American Virgins," on Link TV, your connection to the world. OUTRO:Welcome back. You're watching "Spotlight" on Link TV. I'm Mark Hertsgaard. "The Silver Ring Thing" is unabashedly Christian, which has led to legal troubles for the group and its supporters in the Bush administration. In May 2005 the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Department of Health and Human Services for funding the Silver Ring Thing. The ACLU argues that using taxpayer money to "promote religious content and indoctrination" violates the separation of church and state. Meanwhile, Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman of California released a study of abstinence-only school curricula. The study found that eleven out of thirteen curricula contained false or misleading information, such as the claim that it's not known whether condoms prevent the spread of HIV. Meanwhile, analysts have found no evidence that abstinence programs keep kids from having sex. Studies by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy found that abstinence programs affected only kids' stated attitudes about sex, not their actual behavior. In response, the Bush administration ordered the Center for Disease Control to measure only what kids say about abstinence, not what they do. Most medical authorities support a very different approach. Call it "abstinence plus". The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association all favor comprehensive sex education that encourages abstinence but also tells kids how to protect themselves if they do have sex. If you want to find out more about these issues, check out the resources listed at the end of this program. You can also find those resources at our website, linktv.org. Following those listings you'll see a clip from next week's program. Until then, this is Mark Hertsgaard in San Francisco for Link TV: Spotlight. Thank you for joining us.
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