California State Profile Fiscal Year 2008
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Community-based organizations in California received $6,367,902 in federal funds for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in Fiscal Year 2008.[1] (Click Here to View a PDF Version of this Profile) Sexuality Education Law and Policy | Recent Legislation | Events of Note | Youth Statistical Information of Note | Title V Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding | Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) and Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA) Grantees | Federal and State Funding for Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs | Adolescent Health Contact | Organizations that Support Comprehensive Sexuality Education | Organizations that Oppose Comprehensive Sexuality Education | Local Newspapers | References
California does not require schools to teach sexuality education. However, if schools do teach sexuality education, which they are permitted to do in kindergarten through 12th grade, they must follow certain guidelines. California schools are required to teach HIV/AIDS education to students at least once in middle school and once in high school.
California state law requires that all instruction be age-appropriate and medically accurate, which is defined as “verified or supported by research conducted in compliance with scientific methods and published in peer-reviewed journals, where appropriate, and recognized as accurate and objective by professional organizations and agencies with expertise in the relevant field, such as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Public Health Association (APHA), the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.”
From grade seven on, all instruction must include information about abstinence while “providing medically accurate information on other methods of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.” This instruction must “provide information about the effectiveness and safety of all FDA-approved contraceptive methods in preventing pregnancy, including, but not limited to, emergency contraception.” Each school district must provide in-service training for all teachers and school employees who conduct HIV-prevention education. School districts may contract with outside consultants either to teach students or provide the in-service training. In addition to the California law, the state board of education recently developed its first set of health education standards which include comprehensive sexuality education. The standards, which passed in March 2008, require that sexuality education be medically accurate and age-appropriate. The health education standards cover topics including facts about STDs, contraception, condoms, pregnancy, and violence.[2] In 2007, the state passed a law mandating that all community-based programs using state funds or state-administered funds to prevent unintended pregnancies and STDs adhere to requirements similar to those for school-based programs; instruction must be medically accurate, age-appropriate, culturally and linguistically appropriate for its intended audience, and comprehensive. Parents or guardians may remove their children from sexuality education and/or STD/HIV education classes. This is referred to as an “opt-out” policy. See
Legislation Requiring Charter Schools to Teach Comprehensive Sexuality Education
Senate Bill 1600 would have required charter schools to provide comprehensive sex education to students under the California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Education Act. The bill was introduced in February 2008 and referred to the Senate Committee on Education where it passed. The bill's author and sponsors then reached an agreement with the California Charter Schools Association, which confirmed that since charter schools are required to meet state standards, and California’s recently adopted health standards include comprehensive sex education, charter schools choosing to teach sex education would, teach comprehensive education. The bill itself was, therefore, deemed no longer necessary and was allowed to die.
Legislation to Notify Parents of Discussion on Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation
Assembly Bill 2086, introduced in February 2008, would have required that parents or guardians be notified of proposed class discussion on gender identity or sexual orientation taking place outside of comprehensive sexual health education or HIV/AIDS prevention education. The bill was referred to the Assembly Committee on Education where it died.
Bill to Ensure Fair, Affordable Access to Maternity Coverage in Health Care Benefits
Assembly Bill 1962 would require every individual and/or group health insurance policy regulated under the Department of Insurance to cover maternity services for women in California. The bill defines maternity services to include prenatal care, ambulatory care maternity services, involuntary complications of pregnancy, neonatal care, and inpatient hospital maternity care. The bill was introduced in February 2008 and has been re-referred to the Senate Business and Professions Committee.
Bill to Improve Health Care Services
Senate Bill 1770 ensures women’s access to reproductive health care services by extending the Reproductive Rights Law Enforcement Act (RRLEA), which was set to expire on January 1, 2007. The bill allows additional time to collect and analyze more complete data and effectively train law enforcement agencies to combat anti-reproductive rights crimes at reproductive health facilities in California. The bill also requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to prepare guidelines establishing standard procedures which may be followed by law enforcement agencies in the investigation and reporting of cases involving anti-reproductive rights crimes. Senate Bill 1770 was signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on July 25, 2008.
Proposition 8: Eliminates Rights of Same-Sex Couples to Marry
Proposition 8 seeks to change the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in the state. The proposition states that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. Proposition 8 was passed by the voters of California in November 2008.
Proposition 4: Waiting Period and Parental Notification before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy
Proposition 4 sought to change the California Constitution to require parental notification before un-emancipated minors could obtain an abortion. The measure did not require a physician or a minor to obtain the consent of a parent or guardian but required a 48-hour waiting period for parental notification before physicians could perform abortion services. Proposition 4 also mandated reporting requirements (including reports from physicians regarding abortions on minors) and authorized damages against physicians for violations of these rules. It would have permitted courts to waive notice based on clear and convincing evidence of a minor’s maturity or best interest. Proposition 4 allowed for parental notification exemptions in the case of medical emergency, waivers approved by parent or guardian, notice to adult family member and report of abuse, and/or waivers approved by courts. Proposition 4 was rejected by the voters of California in November 2008.
California’s Youth: Statistical Information of Note[3]
Los Angeles, California
San Bernardino, California
San Diego, California
San Francisco, California
California did, however, try its own state-funded abstinence-only-until-marriage program from 1992–1996. The program, Education Now and Babies Later (ENABL), was ended after evaluations found it to be ineffective. The curriculum served 187,000 youth in schools and communities, but evaluations showed that “youth in treatment and control groups were equally as likely to have become sexually active, and youth in treatment groups were not less likely than youths in control groups to report a pregnancy or sexually transmitted infection.”[4] This evaluation has been instrumental in California’s continued decision to reject Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage funds.
SIECUS has compiled some examples of the use of CBAE and AFLAfunding in California:
California Hispanic Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (CHCADA), $600,000 (CBAE 2006–2011)
According to its website, California Hispanic Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (CHCADA) “seeks to provide culturally competent bicultural or bilingual and monolingual services that will reduce the environmental vulnerability of low-income Latinos and other marginalized populations.”[5] CHCADA conducts a number of programs, including “Proud to Wait! An Abstinence Project for Youth.” [6] Proud to Wait! operates in Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Orange County, and uses a curriculum titled Friends 4 Teens.[7]
Proud to Wait! also conducts an annual statewide Youth Abstinence Conference. Conference topics in August 2007 included “why abstinence is the best choice” and “the physical, emotional, and psychological costs of early sexual activity.”[8]
Free to Be, $540,000 (CBAE 2007–2012)
Free to Be operated under another CBAE grantee, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, until 2007; it currently operates as its own freestanding organization.[9] The organization provides abstinence-only-until-marriage programming for students in grades five through 12.[10] Free to Be conducts its abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in classrooms, youth groups, school assemblies, conferences, church groups, scout troops, and Boys and Girls clubs throughout Northern California.[11] The organization uses the “Teen Panel” model, and claims to be “unique in the country, tapping the energy and optimism of teens to take the lead in spreading the abstinence movement.”[12] The organization claims to speak to over 4,000 young people in Sonoma County each year.[13]
Free to Be provides medically inaccurate and biased information about condoms and contraception in its abstinence-only-until-marriage curriculum. For example, the curriculum likens condoms to a safety net and then asks students to observe “the holes in the net.” It goes on to say: “Condoms only protect the physical. And they still aren’t 100% safe!” Discouraging young people’s faith in condoms as a pregnancy and disease prevention method runs counter to the goals of public health.
Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program, $412,485 (CBAE 2005–2008) and $495, 837 (CBAE 2008–2013)
Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program offers “Abstinence-only Based Education & Learning” (ABEL), a program targeted to students in grades six through eight in the Meadows and Heber School Districts. [14] Project ABEL uses the Choosing the Best curriculum. The Choosing the Best series is one of the more popular abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in the country. The series is comprised of a number of curricula for students from sixth grade through high school: Choosing the Best WAY, Choosing the Best PATH, Choosing the Best LIFE, Choosing the Best JOURNEY, and Choosing the Best SOULMATE. The series has been recently revised and the information about STDs is now medically accurate. However, Choosing the Best curricula continue to promote heterosexual marriage, rely on messages of fear and shame, and include biases about gender, sexual orientation, and pregnancy options. For example, Choosing the Best PATH asks students to brainstorm the “emotional consequences” of premarital sex. Suggested answers include “guilt, feeling scared, ruined relationships, broken emotional bonds.” [15]
New Harvest Christian Fellowship, Inc., $600,000 (CBAE 2006–2011)
New Harvest Christian Fellowship, Inc. runs “Oneighty,” a youth program which “serves over 2,800 young people, ages 13–22, representing over 85 public schools.”[16] The Oneighty program is described as an eight-week “discipleship course.” Students participate in games, concerts, food, and other activities such as skating. At the conclusion of the course, students take a vow to remain abstinent until marriage.[17]
Such vows are often called virginity pledges. Research found that 88 percent of young people who took a virginity pledge ultimately had sexual intercourse before marriage. Under certain conditions these pledges may help some adolescents delay sexual intercourse. When they work, pledges help this select group of adolescents delay the onset of sexual intercourse for an average of 18 months—far short of marriage. Researchers found that pledges only worked when taken by a small group of students. Pledges taken by a whole class were ineffective. More importantly, the studies also found that those young people who took a pledge were one-third less likely to use contraception when they did become sexually active than their peers who had not pledged. These teens are therefore more vulnerable to the risks of unprotected sexual activity such as unintended pregnancy and STDs, including HIV/AIDS. Further research has confirmed that although some students who take pledges delay intercourse, ultimately they are equally as likely to contract an STD as their non-pledging peers. The study also found that STD rates were higher in communities where a significant proportion (over 20 percent) of the young people had taken virginity pledges.[18]
Pacific Camps Family Resource, $599,539 (CBAE 2008–2013)
Pacific Camps Family Resource runs both a Christian camp and before- and after-school programs. The organization describes its mission as “… to provide a spiritual atmosphere where children and their families will develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”[19] The organization’s website also includes a statement of faith, “We believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God: the supreme source of faith and practice; in the eternal Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ; in His virgin birth; in His death on Calvary as a substitute for our sins; in his bodily resurrection; that salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ; that all men are lost apart from the saving grace found in Christ; that the Church is composed of born-again believers; in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives; in carrying out the Great Commission; that Christians are responsible to evangelize and in the personal return of Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, to earth.”[20]
The founder of Pacific Camps Family Resource states as his goal to, “build an organization where relationships and Jesus would be intertwined.”[21]
Riverside-San Bernardino County Indian Health, $459,974 (CBAE 2005–2008) and $512,500 (CBAE 2008–2013)
Riverside-San Bernardino County Indian Health’s runs the Native Challenge Program which runs after-school programs for junior high and high school students and also uses the Choosing the Best series.[22]
Adolescent Health Contact[23]
HIV/AIDS Consultant
School Health Connections
California Department of Health
1430 N. Street, #6408
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 319-0285
Newspapers in California[24]
[1]This refers to the federal government’s fiscal year, which begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, Fiscal Year 2008 began on October 1, 2007 and ended on September 30, 2008.
[2] “Health Education Content Standards for California Public Schools,” California State Board of Education, accessed 6 May 2008, <http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/ag/ag/yr08/documents/mar08item11.doc>.
[3] Unless otherwise cited, all statistical information comes from: Danice K. Eaton, et. al., “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2007,” Surveillance Summaries, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 57.SS-4 (6 June 2008), accessed 4 June 2008, <http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/index.htm>. California did not participate in the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, but many of the state’s major cities did.
[4] “Health Education Content Standards for California Public Schools,” California State Board of Education, accessed 6 May 2008, <http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/ag/ag/yr08/documents/mar08item11.doc>.
[5] “Mission,” California Hispanic Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, accessed 1 April 2008, <http://www.chcada.org/mission.html>.
[6] Proud to Wait!, Proud to Wait! Newsletter (Los Angeles: 2007), Issue 1, Volume 1.
[7] Ibid.
[8] “Statewide Conference,” Proud to Wait! An Abstinence Project for Youth, accessed 1 April 2008, <www.proudtowait.org>.
[9] Ibid.
[10] “Educational Components: Programs,” Free to Be, (2007), accessed 12 March 2008,
[11] “About Us,” Free to Be, (2007), accessed 12 March 2008, <http://www.free-to-be.net/about.html>.
[12] “North Coast Catholic: Newsletter for the Diocese of Santa Rosa,” Santa Rosa Diocese, Fall 2007, accessed 1 April 2008, <http://www.santarosacatholic.org/ncc/sep07.pdf>.
[13] “The Free-to-Be Connection Newsletter,” Free to Be, Issue #6 Summer 2007, accessed 12 March 2008,
[14] “Projects, Services and Opportunities for Youth Only,” Imperial Valley Regional Occupation Program, 26 July 2007, accessed 1 April 2008, <http://www.ivrop.org/Projects%20Services%20Opp.htm>.
[15] Bruce Cook, Choosing the Best (Marietta, GA: Choosing the Best, Inc., 2001-2007).
[16] “About Us,” New Harvest Christian Fellowship, accessed 1 April 2008, <http://www.newharvestoneighty.com/about_us.htm>.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Peter Bearman and Hannah Brückner “Promising the Future: Virginity Pledges and the Transition to First Intercourse.” American Journal of Sociology 106.4 (2001): 859-912; Peter Bearman and Hannah Brückner, “After the promise: The STD consequences of adolescent virginity pledges,” Journal of Adolescent Health 36.4 (2005): 271-278.
[19] “Mission Statement,” Pacific Camps accessed 17 October 2008, <http://www.pacificcamps.com/mission.html>.
[20] Ibid.
[21] “History,” Pacific Camps, accessed 17 October 2008, <http://www.pacificcamps.com/history.html>.
[22] Phone Interview with Brighton Ncube, Project Director, October 17, 2008.
[23] SIECUS has identified this position as a state-based contact for information on adolescent health and if applicable, abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.
[24] This section is a list of major newspapers in your state with contact information for their newsrooms. This list is by no means exhaustive and does not contain the local level newspapers which are integral to getting your message out to your community. SIECUS strongly urges you to follow stories about the issues that concern you on the national, state, and local level by using an internet news alert service such as Google alerts, becoming an avid reader of your local papers, and establishing relationships with reporters who cover your issues. For more information on how to achieve your media goals visit the SIECUS Community Action Kit.
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