Dear Conferee,
We are writing to urge you, as a conferee to the Fiscal Year 2003 Omnibus Appropriations bill, to provide no new funding to abstinence-only-until-marriage programs under the Special Projects of Regional and National Significance (SPRANS) grant program funded through the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill. Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs have not been proven to be effective and some evidence indicates that they may even cause harm to young people.
As you know, the nation's fiscal environment has deteriorated significantly, and the constraints on federal and state funds add a new imperative for freezing the funding of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Now is the time to follow the President's own dictum: ""When objective measures reveal that government programs are not succeeding, those programs should be reinvented, redirected, or retired."" (page 3, the Budget Message of the President, February 4, 2002).
Inexplicably, the administration is seeking an additional $33 million for the SPRANS abstinence-only-until-marriage program in Fiscal Year 2003. This program's funding was doubled in Fiscal Year 2002 in spite of what the evidence tells us:
- In Fiscal Year 2002, over $100 million in federal funds were provided to states and individual programs to carry out abstinence-only-until-marriage programs (through SPRANS and two other funding streams). Since 1996, these programs, which deny teaching young people the health benefits of contraception in helping to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease, including HIV/AIDS, have received over a half-billion in funding yet they have not been shown to be effective.
- Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs censor our educators by limiting what grantees may teach or discuss, thereby withholding vital information from our young people.
- Recent studies show abstinence-only-until-marriage programs may cause harm by undermining contraceptive use when young people in the programs become sexually active. In one so-called ""virginity pledge"" study, participants were one-third less likely to use contraception when they did have sex compared to students not participating in the program.
- Over 142 national organizations, including the country's major medical organizations like the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, belong to the National Coalition to Support Sexuality Education and strongly believe in teaching young people about both abstinence and contraception.
- Abstinence-only-until marriage programs raise serious constitutional and civil liberties concerns. In July 2002, a federal court enjoined Louisiana's federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage program, holding that the program habitually funded projects that conveyed religious messages in violation of the constitution.
- In 2000, the White House's Office of National AIDS Policy expressed concern with the current support for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and argued that ""priority for future funding increases"" should go to programs that have been proven effective. Half of the 40,000 new cases of HIV infection in the United States occur in young people under the age of 25.
- Finally, the American public overwhelmingly rejects abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for young people. A 2002 survey by Lake, Snell, Perry & Associates found that 85% of voters wanted young people to receive a comprehensive approach to sex education that included teaching about contraception.
Further, expansion of the unproven SPRANS program takes much needed resources from worthy programs. Appropriators need to ask why $33 million MORE in federal funds should be appropriated for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs when those dollars could?
- buy nutritious food packages (e.g. milk, eggs, peanut butter) for over 1 million eligible WIC recipients.
- provide life-saving medication for 2,357 HIV-positive people.
- restore recently cut federal support to 45 of the 1,100 vitally needed teaching hospitals across the country.
- Provide dental care for 191,860 children enrolled in Medicaid.
We urge you to accept the Senate's SPRANS provisions and level-fund this unproven abstinence-only-until-marriage program.
Sincerely,
Advocates for Youth
American Association for Health Education
American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists
American Association of University Women
American Civil Liberties Union
American College of Nurse-Midwives
American Medical Student Association
American Social Health Association
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals
Catholics for a Free Choice
Center for Law and Social Policy
Center for Reproductive Rights
Center for Women Policy Studies
Child Welfare League of America
Choice USA
Feminist Majority Foundation
Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
Girls Incorporated
Human Rights Campaign
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health®
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Population Connection
Ms. Foundation for Women
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Association of County and City Health Officials
National Coalition of STD Directors
National Education Association
National Minority AIDS Council
National Network for Youth
National Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting and Prevention
National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association
National Women's Health Network
National Women's Law Center
National Youth Advocacy Coalition
Our Bodies Ourselves
Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S.
The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
United Church of Christ
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
Women of Reform Judaism