Advocates for Youth works to eliminate funding for ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs directed at out Nation’s youth. Since 1998, federal policymakers have allocated more than $1.5 billion for abstinence-only programs, despite overwhelming evidence that this massive federal expenditure has failed to achieve its stated goals.
Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Education
The Title V, Section 510 abstinence education program is the foundation for the federal abstinence-only-until-marriage program. Passed as part of welfare reform (P.L. 104-193), this little noticed mandate of $50 million a year to fund abstinence-only programs requires states to follow a restrictive eight-point definition of abstinence education. This definition (see below) remains at the core of all federal abstinence-only funding streams, including the most controversial Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) programs. THE FEDERAL DEFINITION OF ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION An eligible abstinence education program is one that: - A) has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity;
- B) teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for all school-age children;
- C) teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems;
- D) teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity;
- E) teaches that sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects;
- F) teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child's parents, and society;
- G) teaches young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increase vulnerability to sexual advances; and
- H) teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity.
Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) In 2000, Congress funded the Special Projects of Regional and National Significance Community-Based Abstinence Education Program (known as SPRANS/CBAE), a competitive abstinence-only-until-marriage grant program. At the behest of Rep. Ernest J. Istook (R-OK) and other conservatives in the House of Representatives, the SPRANS/CBAE program was more restrictive than the Title V abstinence-only program and required that grantees teach all components of the 8-point abstinence-only education definition. Grantees are also prohibited from providing any positive information about how condoms or contraception can protect against unintended pregnancies and STIs, including HIV even in other settings and with non-CBAE funds. In 2006, the provisions for the CBAE program were revised to expand its target audience to all single people between the ages of 12 to 29 and to mandate that all grantees ensure that neither they nor their sub-grantees provide any positive information about the health benefits of contraception and condoms. The CBAE programs has become a major source of revenue for so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” - fake clinics run by people who are anti-abortion. These centers have a history of giving women wrong, biased information to scare them into not having abortions. The annual funding level for the CBAE programs is currently $113 million. Take Action Today – Help end funding for these ineffective and harmful programs!
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