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Making the Connection -- News and Views on Sexuality: Education, Health and Rights

A quarterly international newsletter on sexuality, sexual health, and sexuality education.

Volume 2, Issue 3 - Winter 2002/2003

"No New Money" Campaign Challenges Abstinence Only in U.S.

SIECUS has been at the forefront of advocacy efforts to support comprehensive sexuality education for almost four decades and has been working to challenge misguided policies that have harmful effects on young people.

The most recent initiative is the "No New Money" campaign which aims to prevent an increase in federal spending on unproven abstinenceonly- until-marriage programs.

Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs do not include any information about contraception or disease prevention methods, with the exception of abstinence.These programs typically present marriage as the only moral context for sexual activity.

SIECUS, along with colleague organizations Advocates for Youth and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, has launched a new online advocacy web site. The "No New Money" web site is designed to direct a unified message to policymakers that "no new money" should go into unproven abstinence-only-until marriage programs.

The central piece of the web site is a "Take Action" button that allows advocates to contact their Members of Congress. It also contains the latest in polling on sexuality education, examples of curricula currently funded with federal tax dollars, the current research on the effects of abstinenceonly- until-marriage interventions, and other relevant resources.

For the past two decades, the U.S. government has consistently increased its investments in abstinence-only-until- marriage programs. These programs pose a simplistic solution to a complex challenge and provide young people with one message: do not engage in sexual activity outside of a monogamous, heterosexual marriage.

Federally-funded programs often rely on messages of fear and shame; deny young people lifesaving knowledge about pregnancy and disease prevention methods; present inaccurate, biased, and exaggerated information as fact; and teach specific religious beliefs.

While claiming to have as their goal the prevention of unintended pregnancy and STDs among teens, they consistently ignore the needs of those young people who are most at risk, including gay and lesbian youth, victims of sexual abuse, pregnant and parenting teens, and those teens who are already sexually active.

Federally-funded abstinence-only-until- marriage programs cannot discuss the effectiveness of condoms and contraception in preventing unplanned pregnancy and disease transmission. Some curricula used in federally-funded programs take this one step further by actually discouraging condom use.These programs give students inaccurate, exaggerated, and outdated information about condoms in an attempt to convince them that condoms never work.

Teaching students that condoms or contraception do not work will not prevent them from having sexual intercourse but will likely prevent them from using these important protective measures when they do become sexually active. Recent research actually suggests that some of these programs may prove harmful to teens because those who participate are less likely to use condoms and contraception when they do become sexually active. More important, however, there is no evidence that these programs will help teens avoid or even delay sexual activity.

And yet, the federal government currently invests in three separate funding streams to support abstinenceonly- until-marriage programs. Since 1984, these three funding streams have received more that half a billion dollars of funding. And for fiscal year 2003, the Administration is seeking an additional $135 million.

Here is a look at the three current funding streams:

• Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA).

  This program was established in 1981 to prevent teen pregnancy by promoting chastity and self-discipline. Since 1981, the federal government has spent nearly $100 million funding chastity programs under AFLA with fiscal year 2002 reaching an all time high of $12 million.

• Title V, Section 510(b)- Welfare Reform Act.

  In 1996, the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Act (TANF), better known as welfare reform, was signed into law.The federal government attached a provision to this law that established an entitlement program for abstinence-only-until-marriage initiatives.This new program was quietly inserted into the law without debate by Congress or the public. Title V funneled $50 million per year for five years into the individual states.Those states that chose to accept Title V funds were required to match every four federal dollars with three state-raised dollars and then disperse the funds for abstinence-onlyuntil -marriage activities in schools and community-based organizations. State matching funds brought the annual total for this program to $87.5 million.

• Special Projects of Regional and National Significance- Community-Based Abstinence Education (SPRANS-CBAE).

  In October 2000, the U.S. government earmarked an additional $20 million to support abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Under this newest funding stream, known as SPRANSCBAE, the federal government made awards directly to state and local organizations. Funding for SPRANSCBAE started in fiscal year 2001 at $20 million and increased to $40 million for fiscal year 2002. President Bush's budget for fiscal year 2003 proposes an increase of $33 million, bringing this to $73 million.

In contrast, comprehensive sexuality education programs that include messages about abstinence as well as pregnancy and disease prevention have been found to delay sexual activity, reduce the number of sexual partners, and increase the use of condoms and contraception among teens.These programs are supported by researchers, public health professionals, parents, educators, and teachers. Ironically, they receive no federal funding.

SIECUS believes that by funding abstinence-only-until-marriage programs the federal government is promoting a conservative ideological agenda at the expense of sound public health policy, the health and wellbeing of our nation's youth, and the will of the American people.

In 1998, SIECUS undertook an in depth survey of abstinence program coordinators in all states that had applied for federal funding during the first year of the Title V abstinenceonly- until-marriage program. SIECUS wanted to determine how this new federal funding stream was used in states and communities.The survey looked at the types of programs being created and supported, the key messages in each state, and the intended audience. The information from this survey was published in Between the Lines: States' Implementation of the Federal Government's Section 510(b) Abstinence Education Program in Fiscal Year 1998.

Since that time, abstinence-only-until- marriage programs have become increasingly pervasive in states and communities across the country. In 2001, SIECUS set out to investigate if and how state implementation of Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage programs had changed since the first year of funding.The goal was to once again collect information from all state abstinence coordinators.

SIECUS released a new publication, No New Money for Abstinence-Only- Until-Marriage Programs, in November 2002 based on the survey responses that were returned. It is designed to educate policymakers, advocates, and the public about the startling realities of federally-funded programs.

For more information, contact:

Sexuality Information Education Council of the United States (SIECUS)
1706 "R" Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20009
Phone: 202.265.2405
Fax: 202.264.2340
E-mail: kbowen@siecusdc.org
Web site: http://www.nonewmoney.org

SIECUS has joined advocates across the country who have come to one conclusion—NO NEW MONEY

Web Master: siecus@siecus.org