Risks of Abstinence-Only Education
The Human Rights Campaign supports providing our youth with comprehensive sexuality education, which includes abstinence as one method of reducing disease and unwanted pregnancies, but it also includes instruction and education on contraception, which can stop the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Abstinence-only education programs teach youth that abstinence from sexual activity until marriage is the expected social norm and the only manner in which to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy. Further, abstinence-only program educators are not permitted to discuss the proper use of contraception, including condoms, as a way to reduce risk of contracting HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases. In abstinence-only programs, only failure rates of condoms can be discussed.
What Is HRC Doing?
HRC works in coalition with other organizations working to stop the spread of HIV, such as AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families; Advocates for Youth; the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League; and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. HRC works to educate policymakers on the dangers of abstinence-only programs on LGBT youth and supports efforts to increase the availability of comprehensive sexuality education, which includes abstinence but also other methods of reducing risk.
In February 2002, HRC joined 77 other groups in sending a letter to President Bush urging him to reconsider his decision to request huge increases in funding for abstinence-only programs in his budget.
HRC has also endorsed and encouraged members of Congress to support the Responsible Education About Life Act. This legislation would provide $100 million to states to support sexuality education that includes medically accurate messages about both abstinence and contraception.
HRC continues to encourage and advocate for funding of broad-based prevention activities rather than abstinence-only programs.
How Does the Federal Government Fund Abstinence-Only Initiatives?
The federal government funds abstinence-only programs through three separate programs: the Adolescent Family Life Act; the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (commonly referred to as Welfare Reform); and the Special Projects of Regional and National Significance Community-Based Abstinence Education (SPRANS-CBAE) program of the Maternal and Child Health Title V Block Grant program.
AFLA: First enacted in 1981, the AFLA was the first federal government program to fund abstinence-only education programs. This program funds activities that encourage "self discipline and responsibility" and "chastity" among our youth. This funding is discretionary, funded through the Labor/Health and Human Services/Education bill, and is subject to the annual budget process. After a number of legal challenges on whether the AFLA program violated the separation of church and state, programs funded by the AFLA now must meet the stringent eight-point federal definition listed below under Welfare Reform.
Welfare Reform: Congress created an additional funding stream for abstinence-only education in the law signed by President Clinton in 1996 that overhauled our nations welfare system. Unlike funding for the AFLA program, this program is automatically given $50 million per year. With a required state match, every state but California chooses to participate in this program. Programs funded through this law are not required to adhere to all eight components of the following strict definition of what constitutes abstinence-only education, but they may not contradict the following definition either:
has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, psychological and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity;
teaches that abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage is the expected standard for all school-age children;
teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and other associated health problems;
teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity;
teaches that sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects;
teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful effects;
teaches young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increases vulnerability to sexual advances; and
teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity.
SPRANS-CBAE: The third federal funding stream for abstinence-only education was enacted into law in 2000. Many believe that this program is even stricter than the program authorized by Welfare Reform because it mandates that programs adhere to all eight components of the Welfare Reform definition, including that sex within "marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity."
Why Are Abstinence-Only Programs Dangerous for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth?
The current focus on abstinence-only prevention campaigns, while worth continued study for certain populations, is not meaningful to the LGBT community. Same-sex couples cannot get married in 49 out of the 50 states and therefore, abstinence only until marriage is an unreachable goal and means nothing to the very population that needs to hear prevention messages. To continue to advocate such a policy without implementing prevention programs directed to the LGBT community is highly irresponsible and will only lead to further HIV infections.
A discussion of the importance of abstinence must be coupled with comprehensive sexuality education. With nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of teens in the United States having had sexual intercourse by the time they are 18, it is vital to provide them with information to protect themselves. Such discussions must include information on methods of reducing risks, including use of condoms and other birth control methods. While abstinence-only programs may delay sexual activity and reduce the number of sexual partners over a lifetime, abstinence-only education programs that cannot discuss condoms are placing our youth in danger. In fact, only the failure rates of condoms can be discussed in abstinence-only programs. While there are obvious sensitivity concerns about what age such discussions should begin, to ignore these topics would be irresponsible and would disregard the reality of teenage sex.
What Do the American People Want?
A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that more than 80 percent of parents in the United States believe their children should be taught abstinence, pregnancy and STD prevention in schools. Only 18 percent of those polled believed that abstinence-only education was appropriate. (Kaiser Family Foundation/ABC Television, Sex in the 90s: 1998 National Survey of Americans on Sex and Sexual Health)
What Does Public Health Science Say?
There is little scientific evidence that shows that abstinence-only education programs work. Research continues to demonstrate that comprehensive sexuality education, including abstinence and contraception, is most effective. Well-respected groups including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Society for Adolescent Medicine, the Institute of Medicine, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Nurses Association and the American Public Health Association all reject abstinence-only programs and support comprehensive sexuality education.
In fact, the Institute of Medicine recommends: "Congress, as well as other federal, state and local policymakers, eliminate the requirements that public funds be used for abstinence-only education and that states and local school districts implement and continue to support age-appropriate comprehensive sex education." (No Time to Lose: Getting More from HIV Prevention, Institute of Medicine)
