SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders says the biggest problem in U.S. health care is ignorance and poverty.

Speaking Tuesday to the Urban League in Springfield, Elders said there should be more comprehensive health education programs in schools, including programs that give young people information about contraception as well as promoting sexual abstinence.

Elders said she looks at abstinence-only education as almost child abuse. She says teens have feelings and hormones raging, and haven't been equipped with the tools to make good decisions.

Elders served a 15-month term in 1993 and 1994 as the nation's first black surgeon general. She was forced to resign when she said schools should consider teaching students about masturbation as a way of preventing sexually transmitted diseases.