KENTUCKYKentucky received $3,070,315 in federal funds for
Kentucky Sexuality Education Law and Policy Kentucky does not require parental permission for students to participate in sexuality or HIV/AIDS education nor does it say whether parents or guardians may remove their children from such classes. See Kentucky Department of Education’s Program of Studies. Recent Legislation SIECUS is not aware of any proposed legislation regarding sexuality education in Kentucky. Events of Note Court Keeps Mandatory Anti-Harassment Training, Conservatives Fire Back The anti-harassment class quickly became controversial and many parents kept their children out of school on the day it was held. The school district required students who missed the class to complete a one-page written assignment. Some parents argued, however, that they should have simply been allowed to remove their children from the class without any penalty or extra assignment. In fact, the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit on behalf of one student and two sets of parents against the school district for refusing to allow parents to remove their children from the class. Judge David Bunning disagreed, stating that the class “is rationally related to a legitimate educational goal, namely to maintain a safe environment.” In March 2006, the Alliance Defense Fund appealed the decision on behalf of one student explaining that “the school district is attempting to change the beliefs of students without their parents’ consent.”2 SIECUS will continue to monitor this situation. Board of Health Vows to Keep Abstinence Program Clark County uses an abstinence-based program called Reducing the Risk that is presented to boys and girls together. Some parents at Conkwright Middle School, however, complained that the class should be sex-segregated and believed that the program does not emphasize abstinence enough. The district sided with the parents and voiced its support of sex-segregated classes. The Board of Health disagreed, however. Officials stated that the budget cannot accommodate separated classes and that the curriculum is set for both genders, using role play techniques for males and females to interact. The coordinator for the program expressed the need to keep the program fully intact, exclaiming, “We feel very strongly that we would be going against the integrity of the program if we made the choice to offer it gender-specific.”3 She also stated, “We never fail to put abstinence first.”4 Kentucky’s Youth: Statistical Information of Note5
Title V Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding Kentucky allocates the majority of the funding to 16 local health departments. Organizations are encouraged to apply for this money through their local health departments or districts. Sub-grantees can receive up to $50,000. The remainder is awarded to 7 sub-grantees: Countywide Action Reachout Effort, Inc., Madison County Pregnancy Help Center, New Hope, Pregnancy Resource Center of Henderson (Marsha’s Place), Pregnancy Resource Center of Jefferson County (Pregnancy Helpline, Inc.), Raindrop Ministries, Inc., and Women for Life (AA Pregnancy Care Center). All but one are crisis pregnancy centers. Together, they receive $182, 619 in federal Title V funding. The sub-grantees use a variety of curricula including Choosing the Best, Mike Long’s Everybody is Not Doing It, Sex Can Wait, SMART Moves, and Why kNOw. SIECUS reviewed two of the curricula produced by Choosing the Best, Inc.—Choosing the Best LIFE (for high school students) and Choosing the Best PATH (for middle school students). These reviews found that the curricula name numerous negative consequences of premarital sexuality activity and suggest that teens should feel guilty, embarrassed, and ashamed of sexual behavior. For example, Choosing the Best LIFE states that “relationships often lower the self-respect of both partners—one feeling used, the other feeling like the user. Emotional pain can cause a downward spiral leading to intense feelings of lack of worthlessness (sic).” Choosing the Best PATH says, “Sexual activity also can lead to the trashing of a person’s reputation, resulting in the loss of friends.”8 SIECUS reviewed Why kNOw and found that it offers limited information about important topics in human sexuality such as puberty, anatomy, and human reproduction, and no information about sexual orientation and gender identity. The information that is included is outdated, inaccurate, and misleading. In addition, Why kNOw relies on negative messages, distorts information, and presents biased views of gender, marriage, family structure, sexual orientation, and pregnancy options. For example, the curriculum tells students that the tradition of lifting the bride’s veil during a wedding shows that “the groom [is] the only man allowed to uncover the bride,” and demonstrates “her respect for him by illustrating that she [has] not allowed any other man to lay claim to her.”9 Marsha’s Place, listed as the Pregnancy Resource Center of Henderson County by the Kentucky Department of Health, uses Why kNOw, as well as Sex Can Wait and SMART Moves. Marsha’s Place presents abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in school settings as well as to community groups and parents. It also plans to start teen abstinence support groups after school and host pre-prom parties for teens and parents to encourage drug- and sex-free prom nights. In the “Your Life” section of its website, Marsha’s Place lists reasons “why I will wait for sex,” including: “to stop the need for lying,” “to avoid bad memories,” and “to avoid guilt and disappointment.”10 The same section of the website offers different ways of “Saying ‘NO’” including: “I don’t give free samples—try Baskin Robbins,” “You wouldn’t want me to break my pledge, would you?,” “Don’t you know that sex causes babies, even with birth control?,” “If I do this, it will be so hard to look in the mirror and call myself ‘responsible,’” and “You see these dotted lines? If you touch anything between them, you do it at your own risk. My dad has a very large gun.”11 The Madison County Pregnancy Help Center, a crisis pregnancy center, uses Mike Long’s Everybody is Not Doing It curriculum. Mike Long himself will provide in-service training in the coming year for abstinence educators connected to this project and will conduct assembly programs for all students in the three participating schools. New Hope Center, an affiliate of CareNet and Heartbeat International, also uses the Choosing the Best curriculum. In this fiscal year, New Hope Center also proposed using its Title V funding to train youth pastors/leaders in 20 different churches to present abstinence-only-until-marriage curriculum to the young people in their congregations and launching a website called www.sex.edu in collaboration with Thomas More College and Northern Kentucky University aimed at young people ages 18–20. The website’s content will follow all 8 points of the federal definition of “abstinence education.” As of press time, the website had not yet launched. (See the CBAE and AFLA section for more information on the New Hope Center.) Raindrop Ministries, a mission of Grace Heartland Church in Elizabethtown, KY, also goes by the name of Crossway Pregnancy Resource Center. In its February 2006 newsletter, under “What God did in 2005,” it claims to have reached more than 1,500 students with “the abstinence until marriage program.”12 In its abstinence-only-until-marriage program, Raindrop Ministries/Crossway Pregnancy Center uses the Why kNOw curriculum. Its website includes misinformation when discussing abortion: “Aborting often causes emotional stress that leads to depression. There is also a link between breast cancer and women who have undergone an abortion. It is not only deadly for the baby but can be extremely harmful to the mother’s physical and emotional health.”13 Anti-abortion groups have relied on flawed research data to scare people into believing that induced abortion leads to a higher likelihood of breast cancer. In February 2003, the National Cancer Institute convened a group of 100 experts on pregnancy and breast cancer risk. They reviewed “existing population-based, clinical, and animal studies on the relationship between pregnancy and breast cancer risk, including studies of induced and spontaneous abortion” and concluded that induced abortion is not linked to an increase in the risk of breast cancer.14 There is also no sound scientific evidence linking abortion to subsequent mental health problems, termed “post-abortion stress syndrome” by anti-abortion groups. Neither the American Psychological Association nor the American Psychiatric Association recognize “post-abortion stress syndrome” as a legitimate medical condition.15 Nonetheless, abortion opponents often refer to studies that have been found to have severe methodological flaws or cite anecdotal evidence of this condition in an effort to scare women out of exercising their right to choose. Pregnancy Helpline, Inc., a crisis pregnancy center in Louisville, KY, also uses the Why kNOw curriculum, which it describes as “a return to the ‘traditional’ values of this city, of this state, of this country.” The organization is a member of the Abstinence Clearinghouse. According to its application to the state, the organization also encourages virginity pledges. Research has found that 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 as likely to contract an STD as their non-pledging peers. The study also found that the STD rates were higher in communities where a significant proportion (over 20%) of the young people had taken virginity pledges.16 Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) and Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA) Grantees All three CBAE grantees are crisis pregnancy centers. Crisis pregnancy centers typically advertise as providing medical services and then use anti-choice propaganda, misinformation, and fear and shame tactics to dissuade women facing unintended pregnancy from exercising their right to choose. Door of Hope Pregnancy Care Center describes itself as “committed to the belief in the sanctity of human life, primarily as it relates to the protection of the unborn” and, according to its website, “Door of Hope realizes its goals through a commitment to prayer, and through being sensitive, obedient and responsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.”17 Under the “Your Choices”section of its website, Door of Hope states that “you have the legal right to choose the outcome of your pregnancy,” yet lists only two options—parenting and adoption.18 In reality, women in Kentucky have the legal right to obtain an abortion. The website also contains false information about emergency contraception. In response to a question about risks associated with emergency contraception, it states:
In fact, emergency contraception (EC), also referred to as “the morning-after pill,” is a high dose of regular birth control pills that can reduce a woman’s chance of becoming pregnant by 75 to 89 percent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. Many people confuse EC with the RU- 486 or mifepristone, often called the “abortion pill.” EC is not the same thing and cannot end a pregnancy. EC works by delaying or inhibiting ovulation or inhibiting implantation. If an egg has already implanted in a woman’s uterus, EC will not terminate the pregnancy nor will it harm the developing fetus. Research suggests that the availability of EC has led to a decrease in abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, emergency contraceptives accounted for up to 43% of the decrease in total abortions between 1994 and 2000, and an estimated 51,000 abortions were averted by women’s use of emergency contraceptives in 2000 alone.20 Door of Hope has an abstinence-only-until-marriage program called “Door of Hope A-Team.” The “A-Team” has been a participant in the national “Day of Purity” where thousands of young people around the country, organized by abstinence-only-until-marriage proponents, pledge themselves to abstinence until marriage. Research has found that under certain conditions such pledges, most commonly called virginity 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 as likely to contract an STD as their non-pledging peers. The study also found that the STD rates were higher in communities where a significant proportion (over 20%) of the young people had taken virginity pledges.21 The “Day of Purity” is organized by the Liberty Counsel, a conservative organization that describes its mission as “Restoring the Culture One Case at a Time by Advancing Religious Freedom, the Sanctity of Human Life and the Traditional Family.”22 Heritage of Kentucky, which receives a discretionary grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is affiliated with Heritage Community Services of South Carolina.23 On its website, Heritage of Kentucky claims the following are benefits of abstinence programming: “decreased risk of depression, suicide ideation, suicide attempt, sexually transmitted disease, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and maternal and child poverty, and increased chances for future marriage and marital stability, and personal happiness.”24 It then contrasts abstinence programming with “contraceptive education (sometimes called ‘comprehensive sex ed’),” which it considers “a tertiary public health response strategy, which attempts to reduce (not eliminate) the risks by normalizing sex with contraception for both abstinent and sexually active adolescents.”25 Heritage of Kentucky continues: “A recent study found that teens who take virginity pledges are more than 50 percent less likely to become pregnant than teens that do not take a pledge,” and “No condom-based sex education program has ever been shown to be effective in preventing teen pregnancy.”26 These statements are based on studies conducted and published by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank. The results of these studies directly contradict legitimate research that has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals. (See the Title V section for more information on virginity pledges.) Heritage of Kentucky’s website also features a “Frequently Asked Questions” section. In response to the question, “What is sexual activity? And am I safe by doing ‘other things?,’” Heritage of Kentucky states that “sexual activity includes touching any area covered by a bathing suit.”27 The website’s store displays t-shirts available for purchase with messages including “Virgins Are Hot” and “Future Wife.”28 There are no t-shirts with the message “Future Husband.” The website also features a blog from the President/CEO of Heritage of Kentucky. One entry, “Ab Ed or Contraceptive Ed—An Objective Look,” states:
In another blog, “True Research or Biased ‘Ideology’?,” the President/CEO of Heritage of Kentucky decries a study by the University of Pennsylvania finding that most parents want comprehensive sexuality education for children:
Heritage of Kentucky uses the Heritage Keepers curriculum.31 SIECUS reviewed Heritage Keepers and found that it contains very little information about the majority of topics suggested by SIECUS’ Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education; K-12, such as puberty, anatomy, and sexual behavior. Even topics that are frequently discussed in detail in other abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, such as condoms and STDs, receive very little mention in this curriculum. Instead it devotes most of its lessons to the importance of marriage and abstinence before marriage. In these lessons, Heritage Keepers relies on messages of fear and shame and promotes biased views of gender, marriage, and pregnancy options. For example, Heritage Keepers states, “Males and females are aroused at different levels of intimacy. Males are more sight orientated whereas females are more touch orientated. This is why girls need to be careful with what they wear, because males are looking! The girl might be thinking fashion, while the boy is thinking sex. For this reason, girls have a responsibility to wear modest clothing that doesn’t invite lustful thoughts.”32 New Hope Center, another CBAE grantee, states under the “Abstinence” section of its website that “it is increasingly evident that sex with partners outside marriage is not consequence free, and that protected sex doesn’t guarantee safe sex. The answer? Abstinence…one partner within marriage.”33 New Hope Center uses the Choosing the Best program with fifth and sixth graders.34 (See the Title V section for more information on Choosing the Best PATH.) New Hope Center operates a youth-oriented website called “Wait For Sex,” which contains biased information and reinforces negative gender stereotypes. In the “State It: Men Only” section, the websiteexplains, “Let’s face it. Waiting for sex is a real physical struggle for a guy…Pick your girlfriend wisely. She might have a pretty face and a nice body but those things don’t last. Find out before hand if she has the same values as you. Why waste your time on someone who puts no value in her future and protecting it?”35 Federal and State Funding for Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in FY 2006
Title V Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Coordinator
Kentucky Organizations that Support Comprehensive Sexuality Education
Kentucky Organizations that Oppose Comprehensive Sexuality Education
Newspapers in Kentucky
References
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