ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH

Ideology Trumps Science in FY '05 Budget

More Taxpayer Dollars Allocated for Unproven Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs

WASHINGTON, DC (February 2, 2004) James Wagoner, President of Advocates for Youth, criticized the increases to unproven abstinence-only-until-marriage program dollars, included in President Bush's proposed FY 2005 budget released today. As President Bush promised in his State of the Union address, funding was doubled to $273 million for abstinence-only programs that prohibit youth from being taught that condoms can help to prevent pregnancy and STDs.

"What Congress has to realize is that, by denying youth critical information about contraception and prevention in the era of AIDS, they are placing the health and lives of young people in jeopardy,"said Wagoner.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has cited abstinence-only-until-marriage programs as examples of "poor fiscal and public health policy,"and the nation's most trusted medical organizations, such as the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Society for Adolescent Medicine (SAM), all support comprehensive sex education—an approach that includes both strong messages of abstinence and contraception.

In addition, a just-released analysis from Minnesota shows that its five-year, $5 million initiative to teach teenagers to remain virgins until their wedding night failed to reduce sexual activity. MN ENABL is similar to attempts by almost every state to take advantage of earmarked federal funds, which prohibit teaching teens about the health benefits of using condoms and other birth control methods.

"The Minnesota findings are the latest in a lengthy list of important—but costly—reminders that the federal abstinence-only initiative was launched without evidence that such programs reduce teen sexual risk behaviors,"concluded Wagoner. "Since 1998, nearly a billion in federal and state taxpayer dollars have been spent on these programs. It's time to get real and quit allowing ideology to trump public health science."

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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Note to Editors and Producers: For more information or to set up an interview with adolescent sexuality experts, please contact Bill Barker at (202) 419-3420.

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