Risks of Abstinence-Only Education
Abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education programs exclude, or even denigrate, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students. These programs are prohibited by law from discussing contraceptive use and exclude, by design, LGBT youth because marriage is unavailable to LGBT individuals in most parts of the country. Abstinence-only program educators are not permitted to discuss the proper use of contraception, including condoms, as a way to reduce risk of contracting HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases. In abstinence-only programs, only failure rates of condoms can be discussed.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) supports providing our youth with comprehensive sex education, which includes abstinence as one method of reducing disease and unwanted pregnancies. Unlike abstinence-only programs, however, comprehensive sex education programs also include instruction and education on contraception, which can stop the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
How is HRC addressing this problem?
HRC works in coalition with other organizations, such as SEICUS, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU, to ensure that our nation’s youth have access to comprehensive sex education programs. As part of this coalition, HRC works to educate policymakers on the dangers of abstinence-only programs and supports efforts to increase the availability of comprehensive sex education. Because only Congress can act to end funding for abstinence-only programs, HRC supports the Repealing Ineffective and Incomplete Abstinence-Only Program Funding Act, which would end funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs once and for all. It would transfer funding to the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) state-grant program. PREP-funded programs are required to provide information on both abstinence and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Furthermore, as part of HRC’s Blueprint for Positive Change, HRC has urged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to require recipients of federal sex education dollars to ensure that sex education programs acknowledge LGBT youth and the difficulty presented by an abstinence-only message. In 2010, HHS released a funding announcement that encouraged states receiving federal sex education dollars to consider the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth in their sex education programs. In addition, it asked states to ensure that programs funded with these dollars are “inclusive of and nonstigmatizing toward” LGBT and questioning participants. The announcement also requires programs be medically-accurate and that any statements that reflect values-based opinions must be labeled as such.
Are abstinence-only programs effective?
Abstinence-only programs have been discredited by a wide body of evidence, including a Congressionally-mandated study in 2007 which found these programs ineffective in stopping or delaying teen sex, reducing the number of reported sexual partners, reducing sexually transmitted infections, or otherwise beneficially impacting young people’s sexual behavior. Additionally, no study in a professional peer-reviewed journal has found abstinence-only programs to be broadly effective.
Do public health experts support abstinence-only programs?
Respected public health experts such as the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, American Public Health Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics all oppose government funding for abstinence-only programs on the grounds that they are ineffective and fail to give youth the tools they need to make responsible decisions. The Institute of Medicine has called for the termination of abstinence-only programs because they represent “poor fiscal and public health policy.”
Who supports comprehensive sex education?
According to the results of a 2005-2006 nationally representative survey of U.S. adults published in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, more than eight in 10 polled support comprehensive sex education. A majority of voters in nearly every demographic category, including Democrats, Republicans, and independents, as well as Catholics and evangelical Christians, support comprehensive sex education. In contrast, a 2003 poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that only 15% of parents supported abstinence-only education in schools.
