Sex ed: Should the government push only abstinence?
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently gave out $15 million in grants to organizations – many of them religious – to provide abstinence-only sex education. The grants are part of a record $135 million the government hopes to spend on abstinence-only education this year.
Opponents say that abstinence-only education doesn’t work and that it’s more effective when taught along with contraception. Some say it violates the First Amendment guarantee of separation of church and state because many groups that teach or write public school abstinence curricula are religious. Abstinence-only education supporters say their programs respect constitutional guidelines, fill a gap left by secularly produced resources and do not proselytize.
Though the two groups are united in a fierce desire to reduce teen pregnancy, battles over how best to accomplish that goal are intensifying. Currently most schools say they teach both abstinence and contraception, but that may change as the government boosts funding for abstinence-only programs. And last year, the governor of Louisiana settled a case with the American Civil Liberties Union, which claimed that the statewide abstinence-only sex education program in public schools included religious teaching. Under the settlement, the governor’s abstinence program must closely monitor the activities it funds to make sure religious content is not included.
Questions for reporters
• What is the content of public school sex-education programs in your area? Have the number that teach only abstinence increased? What programs are considered most effective and why?
• Have teen pregnancy rates in your area dropped, as they have nationally? Among what groups?
• What do students, parents, teachers, counselors, health professionals and clergy say is the most effective way to reduce teen pregnancy?
• Do parents and students think the teaching of sex education is best done at school, at home or through a place of worship?
• Are the groups that provide abstinence-only sex education in your area religious or secular? Have there been concerns that they are bringing religion into the public schools?
• If a majority of Americans say they want faith-based organizations to become involved in sex education, should the government encourage that?
Why it Matters
• Two-thirds of parents say sex education should encourage the delay of sexual activity and support contraception among those who engage in it, according to a 2000 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Two in five students say they want more information about contraception and how to handle pressure to have sex.
• In a September 2001 poll conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, teens said religious faith was the most important factor in a decision to delay sex. And 75 percent of adults and 72 percent of teens said they think churches and other houses of worship should do more to prevent teen pregnancy.
• The teen birthrate has been declining since 1991, according to statistics published in June 2003 by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Still, four out of 10 girls get pregnant at least once before age 20, and unwed mothers account for one-third of all births. The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any developed country.
• A national survey of teens found that those who took “virginity pledges” delayed having sex an average of 18 months longer than other teens, but they were also less likely to use birth control. Read about the survey in a story posted by ABCNEWS.com.
Skip to background
National sources
• Bill Albert is communications director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, a nonpartisan initiative that is trying to reduce teen pregnancy by one-third between 1996 and 2005. He says there is a “very real connection” between religious belief and teen sexuality. He says the conflict between religion and public health is “the issue everyone is wrestling with here. How do you bridge the divide between public health and religion, and who is going to pay the bills? But it seems silly to us to pretend religion, morality and values aren’t going to play a part of the equation” in reducing teen pregnancy. Contact 202-478-8510, balbert@teenpregnancy.org.
IN FAVOR OF ABSTINENCE-ONLY SEX EDUCATION
• Robert Rector is a senior research fellow for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. He helped construct Title V welfare reform, which funded efforts toward premarital chastity. Contact 202-608-6156, staff@heritage.org.
• Peter Brandt is director of Focus on the Family’s abstinence division. He says federal funding of abstinence-only programs that have religious ties is not a violation of the establishment clause because “the government guidelines say the curricula cannot proselytize.” He says denying faith-based abstinence-only groups federal dollars would be discriminatory. Contact 719-531-3388, brandtpl@fotf.org.
• Leslee Unruh is president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, an organization that promotes abstinence education and supports those who provide it. Contact 605-335-3643 or 888-577-2966, Contactus@abstinence.net.
• The Abstinence Educators’ Network is a resource for abstinence educators at the junior high and high school levels. Contact 513-398-9801.
• Genevieve Wood is communications director for the Family Research Council, an organization for pro-abstinence-only educators. Contact 202-393-2100 or 703-338-5602.
IN FAVOR OF COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION
• Tina Hoff is director of Public Health Information and Partnerships for the Kaiser Family Foundation, an independent organization that researches health care issues and policies. The organization has conducted several studies on sex education and adolescent sexual activity. Contact 650-854-9400.
• Rebecca Wind is a senior communications associate for the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a proponent of comprehensive sexuality education. Contact 212-248-1111, ext. 2203, rwind@guttmacher.org.
• Tamara Kreinin is president and CEO of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. She and her organization favor comprehensive sex education but are highly critical of current sex education curricula in the nation’s public schools. Contact SIECUS communications director Adrienne Verrilli, 212-819-9770, ext. 325, averrilli@siecus.org.
• Julie Sternberg is a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Freedom Project. Contact 212-549-2636, jsternberg@aclu.org.
Background
• Read the July 2, 2003, news release on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ new grants for abstinence education. Twenty-eight grants to organizations in 18 states, totaling more than $15 million, were awarded, and another round of grants is expected in the fall.
• Read the U.S. Government’s guidelines and fact sheets for the funding of three different types of abstinence sex education programs.
• Read a March 24, 2003, Washington Times story posted on the SIECUS web site about the different programs through which the U.S. government is funding abstinence education.
• Read a March 2003 Education Reporter article that discusses a Zogby International poll that found that most parents reject explicit sex education and favor abstinence education.
• Read a 2000 SIECUS report on public support for sexuality education that shows that 93 percent of parents favor sexual education for their high school-aged children and that 84 percent support it for junior-high students.
• Read a news release from the National Center for Health Statistics that shows an overall decline in teen pregnancy in the United States between 1991 and 2000.
• Read a Feb. 28, 2002, New York Times article by Sheryl Gay Stolberg on the advancement of abstinence-only education under the Bush administration.
• Read a 2001 report from the Alan Guttmacher Institute that offers a history of state policies on sex education.
Regional sources
STATE BY STATE
• See a list of the organizations in 18 states that received U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grants to finance abstinence education in July 2003.
• See lists of more than 100 organizations that received government funding for abstinence-only sex education programs in 2002 and 2001.
• The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy maintains a state-by-state listing of abstinence-only programs and teen pregnancy statistics.
• The Alan Guttmacher Institute maintains a state-by-state list of sexual education policies and teen pregnancy rates.
• Samuel Louis is director of the Abstinence Education Media Campaign for Massachusetts’ Bureau of Family and Community Health. Contact 617-624-5070, Samuel.Louis@state.ma.us.
• The New York State Education Department maintains a list of agencies that provide abstinence education in the state.
• The Harvard University School of Public Health in Boston, Mass., has faculty that study sexuality. Contact Robin Herman, director of communications, 617-432-4388, rherman@hsph.harvard.edu.
• Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in Baltimore, Md., has experts on sexuality. Contact Kate Pipkin, director of communications, 410-955-7552, pipkin@son.jhmi.edu.
• The Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University in New York has faculty that study sexuality. Contact Randee Sacks, director of communications, 212-305-5635, rs363@columbia.edu.
• Karen Joseph is associate director of communications for the New Jersey Education Association, which canceled three sexuality education workshops at its 2002 annual convention after learning that session leaders supported abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Contact 609-599-4561, ext. 2316, kjoseph@njea.org.
• It’s Great to Wait, an abstinence education provider, maintains a list of local agencies that use its curricula in Florida.
• Cindy Miller is director of Metro Atlanta Youth for Christ in Decatur, Ga., which recently received almost $400,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services for an abstinence-only education program. Contact 404-377-8111.
• Simon Roe is a member of the board of health of Gaston County, North Carolina. The board has announced it will re-examine school health education curricula, including sex education, after a report showed that the county has higher pregnancy rates than the state average. Currently, Gaston County’s schools teach only abstinence. Contact 704-853-5000.
• Keith Deltano is an abstinence comedian based in Julian, N.C., and author of Making Virginity Possible: Simple Strategies You Can Learn to Protect Your Child’s Sexual Purity (Freedom Entertainment Publishing, 2003). He leads “True Love Waits” rallies and travels nationally. Contact 336-685-9683, delta@vnet.net.
• Stephen Conley is director of the American Association for Sexuality Education Counselors and Therapists in Richmond, Va. He has been critical of current standards of sex education. Contact aasect@aasect.org.
IN THE SOUTH
• In November 2002 the governor of Louisiana settled a case with the American Civil Liberties Union, which claimed that the statewide abstinence-only sex education program in public schools included religious teaching. Under the settlement, the governor’s abstinence program must closely monitor the activities it funds to make sure religious content is not included. The program was funded by the 1996 federal welfare legislation. Read the settlement and the ACLU release.
• Martha Adcock is a staff attorney for the Family Council in Little Rock, Ark., an affiliate of Focus on the Family. She chairs the Arkansas Governor’s Steering Committee on Abstinence Education, which works with the Arkansas Department of Health to distribute $1 million a year to finance local abstinence education programs. Contact 501-375-7000.
• Liz Sharlot is director of communications for the Mississippi State Department of Health. The department maintains a list of agencies that contract with the state to provide abstinence education. Contact 601-576-7667.
• Patty Snodgrass leads the West Virginia Abstinence Education Project in Charleston. The group’s web site maintains a list http://www.wvdhhr.org/mcfh/icah/Abstinence/Contact_us.htm of state abstinence education providers. Contact 304-558-4934 or 304-558-4930, abstinence@wvdhhr.org.
• Linda Henningsen is director of the Family Health Program at the Nebraska Health and Human Services System in Lincoln, Neb. The system will decide what local organizations will receive federal grant money for abstinence education. Contact 402-471-0538, linda.henningsen@hhss.state.ne.us.
• Virgil Tolbert is executive director of Roseland Christian Health Ministries in Chicago, which received $98,000 in abstinence-only education funding from the federal government in 2001. Contact 773-291-6050.
• James Haveman is director of the Michigan Department of Community Health in Lansing, which received $800,000 from the federal government for abstinence-only education in 2001. Contact 517-373-3500.
• MaryAnne Mosack is the director of Operation Keepsake, an abstinence-until-marriage education provider in Mayfield Village, Ohio. Contact 440-461-1355, ok@operationkeepsake.com.
• St. Vincent Hospital and Health Services in Indianapolis received $578,000 in federal money in 2001 for abstinence-only education. Contact Tonya Ellis, 317-338-7345.
• Illinois also has two widely recognized abstinence-only education programs, Sex Respect Inc. and Project Reality. Contact Sex Respect at 815-932-8389 and Project Reality at 847-729-3298.
• Tonya Waite is the program coordinator of Longview’s East Texas Abstinence Program, which received a federal grant in 2002 to provide services to seven counties. Contact 903-758-2762, tonya@virginityrules.com.
• The Utah Department of Health maintains a list of agencies that provide abstinence education throughout the state.
• Dottyanne Bird is youth director for the Caring Pregnancy Centers in the Boulder, Colo., area. The centers offer an abstinence education program called “Pure Reality” in which students from the University of Colorado who have dedicated themselves to abstinence visit area schools. Contact 303-494-3282.
• Dr. Claire Brindis is co-director of the Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy at the University of California, San Francisco . She says teenagers are capable of understanding both abstinence and comprehensive sex education without being confused by the contradiction they pose. Contact 415-502-4086, brindis@itsa.ucsf.edu.
• Gilbert Herdt is director of human sexuality studies at San Francisco State University and the National Sexuality Resource Center there. Contact 415- 437- 5121, gilnsrc@sfsu.edu.
• Michael Broder is public relations coordinator for the University of California-Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Contact 510-642-9572, mbroder@uclink.berkeley.edu.
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