Oppose Appropriation of Funds for Abstinence-Only-Until Marriage Programs During the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee's Consideration of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Spending Bill
Dear Senator: As you consider appropriations for Fiscal Year 2006, the American Civil Liberties Union urges you to oppose appropriation of any new money for abstinence-only-until marriage education programs.
The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies spending bill includes two discretionary abstinence-only-until-marriage programs: the Community Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) grant program and the Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA). The President's Fiscal Year 2006 budget request proposed increasing funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs by 18.5 percent to $206 million. The entire increase, $38 million, is for the Community Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) account.
Congress has allocated well over half a billion dollars since 1997 for educational programs that focus exclusively on abstinence and censor other information that can help young people make responsible, healthy, and safe decisions about sexual activity. In recent years, federal lawmakers have steadily increased federal funding for abstinence-only-until marriage programs to more than $165 million annually. In sharp contrast, no federal funds are dedicated to supporting comprehensive sexual education programs that teach both abstinence and contraceptive use.
While the discussion of abstinence is an important component of any educational program about human sexuality, federally funded programs that focus exclusively on abstinence raise serious health and civil liberties concerns.
Statistics reveal that teens need information about contraception and sexual health: nearly two-thirds of all high school seniors in the U.S. have had sexual intercourse; approximately 822,000 pregnancies occurred among 15-19 year old women in 2000; and each year, approximately 9.1 million 15-24 year olds are infected with sexually transmitted infections. Abstinence-only education grantees, however, are censored in the information they can provide to students. To receive funds, grantees must offer programs with the ""exclusive purpose"" of teaching the benefits of abstinence programs, and may not provide a participating adolescent with any information that is inconsistent with the narrow eight-point definition of abstinence-only education. Consequently, recipients of abstinence-only dollars may not advocate contraceptive use or teach contraceptive methods -- even if a teen directly asks for this information -- except to emphasize their failure rates. These programs thus leave teens without information critical to protecting their health and preventing pregnancy.
Worse still, federally funded abstinence-only programs can actually leave teens with inaccurate information. A recent study conducted by the United States House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform found that eleven of the thirteen abstinence-only curricula used by SPRANS programs ""contain major errors and distortions about public health information,"" including HIV and other STD prevention, pregnancy prevention, and condom effectiveness. Another recent study, conducted by Case Western University, found that abstinence-only programs contain patently false information about contraceptive effectiveness rates, ""inflated statistics"" regarding abortion, and ""false and inaccurate information"" about STD transmission.
Finally, in violation of First Amendment guarantees, many federally funded abstinence-only programs contain religious teachings about proper sexual behavior and values. Although federal funding guidelines do not permit abstinence-only grantees to convey overt religious messages or to impose religious viewpoints, in practice, many of these programs do precisely that. For example, the ACLU recently filed a federal suit, ACLU v. Leavitt, challenging, on First Amendment establishment clause grounds, the use of federal dollars to support an overtly religious abstinence-only program called The Silver Ring Thing. The Silver Ring Thing has been awarded more than one million dollars in federal money over the last three years. During the "Silver Ring Thing's" flagship three-hour program, members testify about how accepting Jesus Christ improved their lives, quote Bible passages, and urge audience members to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into their lives. In addition, the official silver ring of the program is inscribed with a reference to the biblical verse "1 Thess. 4:3-4," which reads "God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin. Then each of you will control your body and live in holiness and honor." Such programs violate the First Amendment's guarantee of the separation between church and state by using taxpayer money to endorse religious beliefs and underwrite religious activities.
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The ACLU urges you to oppose appropriation of any new money for abstinence-only-until marriage education programs.
Sincerely,
Gregory T. Nojeim
Acting Director