Since 1996, Congress and state governments have spent over $1.5 billion on abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. For 10 years, Congress has ignored the signs. In that time, America's youth acquired mearly 9.1 million STDs each year.
- Centers for Disease Control, Division of STD Prevention. Check out all the “STOP” signs politicians had to run in the past decade to keep funding these failed and dangerous programs!  1999 - The American Medical Association Issues a Statement Opposing Abstinence-Only Education "Our AMA: - Opposes the sole use of abstinence-only education, as defined by the 1996 Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Act (P.L. 104-193), within school systems;
- Endorses comprehensive family life education in lieu of abstinence-only education, unless research shows abstinence-only education to be superior in preventing negative health outcomes;
- Supports federal funding of comprehensive sex education programs that stress the importance of abstinence in preventing unwanted teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, and also teach about contraceptive choices and safer sex, and opposes federal funding of community-based programs that do not show evidence-based benefits; and
- Extends its support of comprehensive family-life education to community-based programs promoting abstinence as the best method to prevent teenage pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases while also discussing the roles of condoms and birth control, as endorsed for school systems in this policy. (CSA Rep. 7 and Reaffirmation I-99; Reaffirmed: Res. 403, A-01; Modified Res. 441, A-03; Appended: Res. 834, I-04).”
From: AMA: H-170.968 Sexuality Education, Abstinence, and Distribution of Condoms in Schools
For the full statement, click here. 2000 - The Institute of Medicine Calls for the Elimination of Abstinence-Only Programs "…Investing hundreds of millions of dollars of federal and state funds over five years in abstinence-only programs with no evidence of effectiveness constitutes poor fiscal and public health policy…. Congress, as well as other federal, state and local policy makers, [should] eliminate requirements that public funds be used for abstinence-only education." The Institute of Medicine, October 2000 Committee on HIV Prevention Strategies in the United States, Institute of Medicine. No Time to Lose: Getting More from HIV Prevention. Washington, DC: The Institute, October 2000 2000 to 2004 - Ten State Evaluations of Abstinence-Only Programs Show No Impact on Teen Sexual Behavior Evaluation of ten state abstinence-only programs (Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, Missouri and Nebraska) showed few short-term benefits and no lasting, positive impact on teen sexual behavior. A few programs showed mild success at improving attitudes and intentions to abstain. No program was able to demonstrate a positive impact on sexual behavior over time. Hauser D. Five Years of Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Education: Assessing the Impact. Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth, 2004 2004 - Rep. Henry A. Waxman Releases Report Showing that Many Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Programs are Medically Inaccurate The study, prepared by the U.S. House of Representative’s Committee on Government Reform, reported that 80 percent of the abstinence-only curricula examined distorted information about the effectiveness of contraceptives, misrepresented the risks of abortion, blurred religion and science, treated stereotypes about girls and boys as scientific fact, and contained basic scientific errors. Prepared by the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on Government Reform, 2004.
For full report, click here.  2006 - The Society for Adolescent Medicine Issues a Statement Calling Abstinence-Only Scientifically and Ethically Flawed And Cites Efficacy at “Near Zero”. "Although abstinence from sexual intercourse represents a healthy behavioral choice for adolescents, policies or programs offering “abstinence only” or “abstinence until marriage” as a single option for adolescents are scientifically and ethically flawed.” "Based on our review of the evaluations of specific abstinence-only curricula and research on virginity pledges, user failure with abstinence appears to be very high. Thus, although theoretically completely effective in preventing pregnancy, in actual practice the efficacy of abstinence-only interventions may approach zero." "Schools and health care providers should encourage abstinence as an important option for adolescents. ‘Abstinence-only’ as a basis for health policy and programs should be abandoned.” For full report, click here. 2006 - The Government Accountability Office Issues a Report Admonishing HHS for Lack of Oversight and Calls the Agency in Potential Violation of the Public Health Service Act October 18, 2006
The Honorable Michael O. Leavitt
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Subject: Abstinence Education: Applicability of Section 317P of the Public Health Service Act Dear Mr. Secretary:
In responding to a congressional request on federal abstinence education grant programs, we identified a legal matter that requires the attention of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In this regard, section 317P(c)(2) of the Public Health Service Act requires certain educational materials to contain medically accurate information about condom effectiveness. HHS believes that this statute does not apply to materials prepared and used by recipients of federal abstinence education grants. As discussed below, we conclude that this requirement would apply to abstinence education materials prepared and used by federal grant recipients, depending upon the substantive content of those materials. We did not assess any particular abstinence education materials for compliance with section 317P(c)(2) and, therefore, reach no conclusions regarding statutory violations. However, in light of our conclusion, we recommend that HHS reexamine its position and adopt measures to ensure that, where applicable, abstinence education materials comply with this requirement.
. . . B-308128, Abstinence Education: Applicability of Section 317P of the Public Health Service Act, October 18, 2006 For the full report, click here.
2007 - A Long-Term, Congressionally Mandated Scientific Evaluation of Abstinence-Only Programs Finds They Have No Impact on Teen Sexual Behavior On Friday, April 13, 2007, HHS quietly released a long awaited, congressionally mandated evaluation of Title V-abstinence-only programs. The evaluators concluded that: ". . . Youth in the program group were no more likely than control group youth to have abstained from sex and, among those who reported having had sex, they had similar numbers of sexual partners and had initiated sex at the same mean age.” Impacts of Four Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Education Programs, Final Report, April 2007
For the full report, click here. 1996 to 2008 - Twenty-Five States Reject Federal Abstinence-Only Funding because They Lack Evidence of Effectiveness To date, twenty-five states have rejected federal abstinence-only, Title V funding. Some of the states include California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Wisconsin. For more information, click here.
|
