ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH

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AMERICA’S TEENS LEFT BEHIND

Statement by James Wagoner on the Extension of Title V Abstinence-Only Programs

Does a teenager, aged 15-19, growing up in Georgia have to move to New Jersey in order to avoid misinformation that HIV is spread through “sweat or tears?” Will the 1,703,000 teenagers that age living in Texas, President Bush’s home state, continue to be told that HIV can “pass through” condoms? And what about the over 50,000 girls, ages 15-19, growing up in Nebraska? Will they be taught to be submissive out of fear that their “prince” will marry another woman? Will gay and lesbian youth in New York be treated with respect in the sex ed classroom while those in Oklahoma are targeted for stigma and isolation?

These are the questions that America’s youth now face because the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives chose to extend the discredited Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for two more years. Democratic leaders will tell you that it’s not the same old program because they’ve added a provision that allows states the “flexibility” to design their own sex education programs, as well as adding language about medical accuracy and effectiveness.

It all sounds good, but the “devil” as they say, “is in the details.”

And there are a number of details that can be problematic. First, any abstinence-plus programs designed by the states must still pass through the Bush Administration’s ideological filter. Second, there is little reason to believe that the Administration will effectively police the medical accuracy requirement inserted into the bill. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has already gone on records criticizing HHS’s lack of oversight of abstinence-only program content.

To date, eleven states (CA, CT, MA, ME, MT, NJ, NY, OH, RI, WI and WY) have rejected the Title V abstinence-only funding. The flexibility provision in the bill may allow the 6,738,000 teenagers living in those states to receive federally funded abstinence-plus education for the first time in history. That’s a good thing.

But what about the 14,301,000 teens living in the thirty-nine other states? What will they learn?

In 2004, Representative Henry Waxman conducted a study, The Content of Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Education Programs which questioned the scientific validity of many of the abstinence-only programs. This report found that “over 80% of the abstinence-only curricula…contain false, misleading or distorted information about reproductive health.”

Last week, House leadership passed a massive $141 million appropriation for the worst of the abstinence-only programs - CBAE (community-based abstinence education). Today, despite prior assurances from Democratic leadership that the $50 million Title V abstinence-only program would be allowed to lapse, the House has now extended the program for another two years.

We know these abstinence-only programs don’t work. A ten-year, congressionally-mandated study by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. told us that. So why are we continuing to fund them?

Teens deserve better.

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Advocates for Youth is a national, nonprofit organization that creates programs and supports policies that help young people make safe, responsible decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.

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