Over $1.5 billion has been wasted on abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education programs. In his 2009 Fiscal Year budget request, President Bush has asked for an additional $141 million in abstinence-only education. Not only have these programs proven ineffective, but often times by disseminating medically inaccurate information our nation's young people are harmed. Did you know one in four young women in the U.S. has a sexually transmitted disease today. Its time for REAL sex education in our schools.  Congressional reports found no evidence that abstinence-only programs increased rates of sexual abstinence.

Congress needs to stop wasting federal dollars on ineffective programs and start funding programs that actually work! Tell your members of Congress that enough is enough! Write your member asking them to stop funding abstinence-only education and to start funding comprehensive sex education!

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As a friend of the Center for Inquiry (CFI), a grassroots organization that encourages the development of public policy based on scientific evidence, I urge you to eliminate funding for abstinence-only programs in the Fiscal Year 2009 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill (H.R. 3043 and S.1710). Abstinence-only programs fail to prevent premarital sex, threaten religious liberties, and prevent funds from being used for other more effective programs.

President Bush's budget request for the 2009 Fiscal Year included $141 million in funding for Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) grants, an increase of $27.7 million from the previous year. In total, the president asked for $204 million abstinence-only-until-marriage funds; $141 million for CBAE, $50 million for Title V abstinence-only funding, and $13 million for the Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA).

Abstinence-only programs, such as those included in CBAE, Title V, and AFLA, have been the main focus of the current administration regarding sexual education. However, scientific research shows that abstinence-only programs are ineffective. A 2007 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHH) found no evidence that abstinence-only programs increased rates of sexual abstinence, the entire supposed purpose of the programs.

Not only have abstinence-only programs proven ineffective, but they are often harmful as well. The same DHH study mentioned above found that young people who took an "abstinence pledge" were one-third less likely to use contraception when they did become sexually active than their peers who had not pledged. Moreover, pledgers were more likely to engage in oral and anal sex than were their non-pledging peers.

Abstinence-only programs do not simply involve health and education issues. These programs can pose serious threats to religious liberty and the separation of church and state. Many advocates of abstinence-only programs, such as the Christian Medical Association, are driven by religiously inspired concerns that access to contraception of any form promotes promiscuity and free sexual expression outside of marriage.

Promiscuity is a moral concept understood as casual sexual intercourse outside of marriage. Promiscuity is not a medical term. Federally funded support for these types of religiously based moral judgments dangerously entangles government with religion and threatens religious liberty.

Lastly, funding for abstinence-only programs directs funding away from other more effective and worthwhile programs, such as comprehensive sex education and family planning. This is extremely problematic due to the manner in which the poor and less-educated are afflicted by unwanted pregnancies. States and federal support for family planning declined between 1994 and 2001. During this same period, the rate of unintended pregnancies increased by 29% among poor and less educated women. Funding that could have gone to programs that would have actually prevented unintended pregnancies instead went to abstinence-only programs.

Further information can be found in the Center for Inquiry position paper "Public Health and Contraception," by Dr. Margaret B. Brown, available at: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/advocacy/public_health_and_contraception_sexuality_education/

Since their inception, abstinence-only programs have received $1.5 billion in federal funds yet have failed to accomplish or even advance their intended goals. It is time for Congress to stop allocating funds to ineffective programs. For these reasons we ask that you eliminate funding for abstinence-only programs.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
March 31, 2008