Coalition Letter to Congress Urging Members to Express to Appropriations Committee Opposition to New Funding for Abstinence-Unless-Married Programs in FY 2005

Dear Member of Congress:  

The undersigned organizations are writing to strongly urge you to convey to the Appropriations Committee your opposition to any new funding for abstinence-unless-married programs in FY 2005.  Abstinence-unless-married programs have not been proven effective, and they depart dramatically from what the vast majority of parents would like to see taught in sex education classes.  Nevertheless, funding has increased dramatically since the first abstinence-unless-married programs were created by the 1996 welfare law - with cumulative funding topping $1 billion by the end of FY 2004.  Moreover, the President's budget request proposes doubling funding for abstinence-unless-married programs in FY 2005 to $273 million.  

The President's request for a 100 % increase to abstinence-unless-married programs is in stark contrast to the overall increase requested for domestic discretionary programs-a mere 0.1%-leaving proposed funding for most public health programs that provide primary health care services to underinsured and uninsured low income Americans stagnant at best. We urge members to request that no new money be spent on these programs.  Instead, the President's proposed $138 million increase should be devoted to chronically under funded public health programs such as the Title X family planning program, breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment programs, and STD prevention initiatives - all of which struggle to provide basic health care to low-income Americans.

 Consider the following:  

• Currently there are three separate federal programs dedicated to abstinence-unless-married education.  Two are discretionary programs funded through the Labor-HHS bill and the third is a $50 million entitlement program funded through the welfare bill that flows to states through the maternal and child health block grant.  The largest abstinence program is an earmark for Community Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) programs funded at $75 million in FY 2004.  
  
• Under the President's budget for FY 2005, funding for the restrictive CBAE programs would soar by nearly 150 percent to $186 million. A second smaller stream of funding that is part of the budget for the Adolescent Family Life Act would double under the President's budget request from $13 million to $26 million. 
  
• Federal funding for abstinence-only programs has been skyrocketing, despite the fact that not a single, scientifically sound study has shown abstinence-unless-married programs to have a long-term beneficial impact on young people's behavior.  A recent evaluation in Minnesota found that sexual activity actually doubled among junior high school students taking part in an abstinence-only program. The independent study, commissioned by the state's health department, recommended broadening the program to include more information about contraception. Indeed, considerable scientific evidence already demonstrates that certain types of programs that include information about both abstinence and contraception help teens delay sexual activity, have fewer sexual partners and increase contraceptive use when they begin having sex.
  
• Funding ""parity"" between Title X health care services to teens and abstinence-unless-married education has been an oft-stated goal of the Administration.  While we continue to believe that comparing education efforts and medical services compares apples to oranges, the Administration appears to have adopted the more ambitious goal of seeking funding parity between abstinence education for teens and the entire national family planning program (flat-funded at $278 million in the President's request for FY 2005), which serves between 4 and 5 million women each year and covers expensive medical services, and abstinence education for teens. 
  
• Parents overwhelmingly oppose abstinence-unless-married mandates.  A January 2004 poll from NPR/ Kaiser Family Foundation/ Harvard Kennedy School of Government showed that a majority of parents want abstinence to be major piece of a sex ed curriculum.  However, only 15 percent of parents believed that schools should censor information about condoms and contraception and teach only abstinence. 
  
• Education is one of our most powerful prevention tools, yet abstinence-only programs censor information about contraception.  Under program requirements, educators are forced to withhold vital information about pregnancy and disease prevention from our young people. The only information about contraception that can be discussed is failure rates. Further, the law sets forth specific messages to be taught, including that sex outside of marriage - for people of any age - is likely to have harmful physical and psychological effects.  This is government-sponsored censorship and it is a threat to young people's health.
  
• Some abstinence-unless-married programs have raised serious constitutional and civil liberties concerns.  In July 2002, a federal court enjoined Louisiana's federally funded abstinence-unless-married program, holding that the program habitually funded projects that conveyed religious messages in violation of the constitution. 
    
• Abstinence-unless-married programs can do harm by undermining contraceptive use.  Research indicates that while some teens promising to abstain from sex until marriage delayed sexual activity by an average of 18 months, they were more likely to have unprotected sex when they broke their pledge than those who never pledged virginity in the first place. 
  
• Abstinence-unless-married programs ignore clear realities.  Nationally, 90 percent of Americans engage in sex by age 25.  Over 60% of young people will have had sexual intercourse before graduating from high school.  900,000 women younger than 20 become pregnant each year and 80 percent of these pregnancies are unintended. These statistics suggest that programs should recognize both parental hopes and societal reality.  
  
• Half of the 40,000 new cases of HIV infection in the U.S. every year occur in young people under the age of 25, yet abstinence-unless-married programs deny information to young people about contraceptive methods proven to help prevent the transmission of many sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.  
  
• Major medical organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, strongly believe in teaching young people about both abstinence and contraception.  

Once again, we urge you to oppose any increase in funding for abstinence-unless-married programs in the Labor-HHS appropriations bill and to support vital public health programs that are severely under funded.  

Sincerely, 

AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Alaska Pro-Choice Alliance
Alliance of Dupage Advocates for Pregnant and Parenting Teens
Allies Linked for the Prevention of HIV and AIDS
American Association for Health Education
American Association of University Women
American Civil Liberties Union
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Americans for Democratic Action
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals
American Psychiatric Association
American Social Health Association
Basic Rights Oregon
Blue Mountain Clinic
California Alliance Concerned with School Age Parenting and Pregnancy Prevention
Catholics for a Free Choice
Center for Law and Social Policy
Center for Reproductive Rights
Center for Women Policy Studies
Coalition of Labor Union Women
Connecticut Coalition for Choice
Family Planning Advocates of New York State
Family Planning Association of Chelan-Douglas Counties
Family Planning Council, Philadelphia
Feminist Majority Foundation
Gay Men's Health Crisis
Girl's Best Friend Foundation
Girls Incorporated
Hyacinth AIDS Foundation
Human Rights Campaign
Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health
Illinois PTA
Juneau Pro-Choice Coalition
NARAL Pro-Choice America
NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado
National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health 
National Council of Jewish Women
National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National Organization of County and City Health Officials
National Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting and Prevention
National Partnership for Women and Families
National Women's Health Network
National Women's Law Center
Northwest Women's Law Center
Our Bodies Ourselves
Pennsylvania Coalition to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
People For the American Way
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health^®
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.
Planned Parenthood of Connecticut
Planned Parenthood of East Central Illinois
Planned Parenthood of Greater Indiana
Planned Parenthood of New York City
Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest
Planned Parenthood of South Central New York, Inc. 
Population Connection
Presbyterians Affirming Reproductive Options
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing 
Reproductive Health Technologies Project
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
The Alan Guttmacher Institute
The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality 
The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States 
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
Women's Opportunity and Resource Development, Inc.
YWCA of the USA