ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH

New Report Details Money Wasted on Ineffective Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs

Statement by James Wagoner, President, Advocates for Youth

WASHINGTON, DC (June 22, 2004) Today, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States' (SIECUS) released "SIECUS State Profiles: A Portrait of Sexuality Education and Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in the States," a comprehensive resource that details the amounts and use of federal abstinence-only-until-marriage funds in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

This excellent report from SIECUS provides an in-depth look at the vast sums federal and state governments are pouring into unproven abstinence-only-until-marriage programs—programs that prohibit youth from being taught that condoms can help to prevent pregnancy and STDs, including HIV. Never has so much money been spent in so many states with so little effect.

For the next fiscal year, President Bush has requested the doubling of funding for these programs to $273 million, bringing the total allocation of taxpayer money for these unproven programs to over one billion dollars since 1998.

The Institute of Medicine, the nation's leading scientific authority, 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, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society for Adolescent Medicine, all support comprehensive sex education—an approach that includes strong messages of both abstinence and contraception.

In addition, a recent 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, an evaluation of the Pennsylvania Abstinence Education and Related Services Initiative found that the initiative was "ineffective in reducing sexual onset and promoting attitudes and skills consistent with sexual abstinence," and the evaluation of Arizona's abstinence-only-until-marriage program actually caused the governor to refuse to allocate matching state funds for the initiative.

These findings coming out of the states 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. 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.

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

RETURN TO INDEX OF PRESS RELEASES >>