Abstinence Education Program, Guidelines Could Be Cut
- Jun 1, 2007 - comment
A highly successful abstinence education grant program, along with key definitions for abstinence education curricula, will expire June 30 if the program is not reauthorized by that date.
Title V, one of three federally-funded abstinence education programs, provides $50 million annually in state grants to teach students the benefits of abstinence until marriage and that abstinence outside marriage is the expected norm for school-age children. States that receive the grants must match $3 for every $4 in federal funds they receive.
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has indicated he expects the committee to drop Title V from the Transitional Medicaid Assistance program, the legislation that typically includes Title V, when Congress reconvenes after its Memorial Day recess.
While the two other abstinence education grant programs would remain in place if they are reauthorized, the “A-H definition” (see below), which provides clear teaching requirements for each of the three abstinence education programs, would be cut along with Title V. This definition would likely be replaced with weaker guidelines for the remaining two programs.
Abstinence programs provide a crucial message needed to counter the misinformation of comprehensive sex education, which often minimizes the abstinence component and emphasizes condom use and so-called “safe-sex.”
A Zogby International poll released this month demonstrates that parents overwhelmingly favor abstinence education over comprehensive sex education. Nearly 79 percent of parents responded that “being sexually abstinent is best for [their] child’s health and future,” and 64 percent believe it is important for their child to remain abstinent until marriage. Further, once parents were given a better understanding of both abstinence education and comprehensive sex education programs, 61 percent preferred that their child receive abstinence education rather than comprehensive sex education.
If you agree that abstinence education programs and the strong definition that guides them should not be cut, please tell your congressman to support the reauthorization of the Title V abstinence education program.
The “A-H definition” specifies that an abstinence education program funded under the block grant must:
- A. Have as its exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological,
and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity; - B. Teach abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the
expected standard for all school-age children; - C. Teach that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way
to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other
associated health problems; - D. Teach that a mutually faithful, monogamous relationship in the
context of marriage is the expected standard of sexual activity; - E. Teach that sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely
to have harmful psychological and physical effects; - F. Teach that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful
consequences for the child, the child’s parents, and society; - G. Teach young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and
drug use increases vulnerability to sexual advances; and - H. Teach the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging
in sexual activity.
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