National Abstinence Education Association hires “Swift Boat� PR firm

Here’s some crazy news from Scott Swenson at RHReality Check:

Using membership dues paid in part by federal tax dollars, the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) hired the Washington, DC, public relations firm, Creative Response Concepts, best known for the 2004 “Swift Boat Veterans” ads against John Kerry, to launch a public relations effort supporting the failed and unpopular abstinence only education policies.

Whoa! Well, I guess when your programs fail and put teens at risk, you have to do something. As Earl Pike, executive director of the Cleveland-based AIDS Task Force, says in Swenson’s post: “It begs the question: If abstinence-only programs are actually effective in reducing long-term rates of sexually transmitted disease and unplanned pregnancy, why hire a PR firm to spin the message?”
Swenson thinks—and I agree—that the spin won’t be about promoting abstinence as much as it will be about attacking supporters of comprehensive sex education.

Specifically, the membership recruiting letter from NAEA outlines “unlimited legislative lobbying” and mobilization in “key Congressional Districts” as well as a “Rapid Response” initiative that is intended to “counter attack negative attacks on abstinence education”. That last part makes one wonder if at one time a memo circulated outlining the Swift Boat ads as “rapid response to negative attacks on George Bush’s military record”, broadly interpreting “negative” as John Kerry simply discussing his exemplary service in Vietnam.

Never mind that advocating for silly things like the truth isn’t attacking abstinence-only education. It’s fighting for a sex education that’s honest and that works.