Apparently NM isn't into slowing the spreadof STIs

[arborgold]

New Mexico Official Asked To Resign After Advocating Teens Use Condoms

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on May 25, 2012 at 5:10 pm

Erin Bouquin, New Mexico’s chief medical officer, said she was asked to resign after she promoted condom use in a TV interview as a way to slow the growth of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers. An hour after her interview aired, Bouquin said she met with Health Department Secretary Catherine Torres and was asked to leave because she had not met the expectations of the state’s Republican governor.
The health department spokeswoman said there was no connection between the interview and Bouquin’s resignation, but Bouquin suspects otherwise because she said Gov. Susana Martinez (R-NM) favors abstinence-only sex education. “On the day I was asked to leave, I said the word condom three times on the news,” she told the Santa Fe New Mexican.

The governor’s office and health department denied any involvement in Bouquin’s resignation. Martinez’s spokesman Scott Darnell said in a statement that “the governor is a proponent of taking a balanced and multi-pronged approach to controlling the spread of sexually transmitted diseases; there is nothing in Dr. Bouquin’s interview that would conflict with that approach

New Mexico has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

thinkprogress.org/health/2012/05/25/490809/state-official-resigns-after-advocating-that-teens-use-condoms/

[Deleted]

WTF. I really can't stand the republicans have politicized science.

[pixy0stix]

I would guess that it wasn't just the interview that caused her to be fired. It was probably because she was pushing condom use all along.

Seriously, how many studies need to be made that say that abstinence only education does.not.work.

[charminglife]

Did she actually resign? She should have refused!

[marie427]

Awful, given that they have the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the nation.

Stop having sex, kids. Yup, that'll help.

[ttt]

Well everyone knows that teenagers always do what adults tell them to do, so we should just tell them not to have sex at all. I'm sure that will solve the problem, considering that teens only have sex because they learned about at school.

[marie427]

This reminds me...when we learned about sex in fifth grade, I thought it was gross. Are there fifth or sixth graders who listen to the talk about sex and think OMG that sounds awesome!!!!!

Hell, it even sounded gross in tenth grade when we learned all about sexual health again, but I was also kind of a nerd so maybe everyone else felt different in sex ed.

[wawa]

May 29, 2012 13:26:05 GMT -5 marie427 said:

This reminds me...when we learned about sex in fifth grade, I thought it was gross. Are there fifth or sixth graders who listen to the talk about sex and think OMG that sounds awesome!!!!!

Hell, it even sounded gross in tenth grade when we learned all about sexual health again, but I was also kind of a nerd so maybe everyone else felt different in sex ed.

yeah, my sweaty gym teacher talking about dental dams and STI's definitely took the shine off the idea of having sex in 10th grade.

Not that it actually stopped me from doing it, but NOTHING about that class made sex sound like fun. Nothing. If I hadn't been fixin' to do it anyway the class certainly woudln't have made me consider it. It did give me a decent working knowledge of condoms though! Yay for banana condom day!

[emisi]

I hate abstinence only ed. And doesn't NM have a REALLY HIGH rate of teen pregnancies?

Also, I wouldn't have resigned. They'd have had to fire my ass. Then I can claim unemployment.

[Seesaw]

At my schools, girls watched the movie in 5th grade, then again with boys invited in 6th grade, all did the banana condom thing in 7th grade if the parents signed the waiver.... I wonder why your schools waited until 10th.

If kids don't hear about condoms on the news, do they not know they exist and what they are for? That's like saying kids don't know where babies come from either unless it's taught in school or is on the news. Parents have the most responsibility for teaching their kids the facts of life. I don't care if schools teach it or not. It's not an academic subject imo.

This was not a school official anyway. The chief medical officer has the duty to protect the health of the people. I don't see how she was not doing her duty by educating about effective alternatives to abstinence for preventing spread of disease. I agree she should not have resigned.

Does anyone else think it's odd how strongly the republican governors are moving in states during the reign of a democratic president?