What is Abstinence-Only Sex Ed?
An Introduction to Federally Funded Sex Education
© Kat Long
Mar 15, 2008
In American public schools today, sex education is mostly limited to curricula emphasizing abstinence from sex until marriage—commonly called abstinence-only sex education.
What is Abstinence-Only Sex Education?
Abstinence-only programs teach that abstinence until marriage is the only correct choice for students when they make decisions about sexual activity. Contraceptives like the Pill and condoms are not discussed; neither is abortion or homosexuality. Likewise, students are not taught that condoms prevent transmission of sexually-transmitted diseases. If any of these topics are mentioned, it is only to emphasize their unreliability or danger. There is also no structure for classroom discussion of historical sexual issues, such as prostitution.
Currently, states receiving federal funds for sex education must use curricula that adhere to the following rules:
A. Has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity;
B. Teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for all school age children;
C. Teaches 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. Teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity;
E. Teaches that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects;
F. Teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child’s parents, and society;
G. Teaches young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increases vulnerability to sexual advances; and
H. Teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity.
According to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), seventeen states have found these guidelines too restrictive and opted out of federal funding.
Historical Background of Abstinence-Only Sex Education
In 1981 Congress passed the Adolescent Family Life Act, which funded “chastity education,” with the support of conservative and religious-right organizations like the Moral Majority. It was believed teaching kids about condoms and birth control would encourage them to have casual sex and increase abortions. The public’s hysteria over HIV and AIDS also fuelled the push for abstinence-only programs.
In the mid-1980s, some of the abstinence-only curricula approved by the federal government, such as Sex Respect and Teen-Aid, were discovered to have religious overtones, thereby violating the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.
Nevertheless, the 1996 Welfare Reform Act set up a funding stream exclusively for abstinence-only sex education. Since then, hundreds of millions of dollars have been channeled to abstinence-only programs. In Fiscal Year 2005, Congress approved $170 million for schools that teach abstinence.
Despite the plentiful federal money, many approved curricula retain the medical inaccuracies, social stereotyping and religious advice that originated with Sex Respect and Teen-Aid. A 2004 report by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, led by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), exposed the false information taught to students in eleven of the thirteen most commonly adopted abstinence-only curricula:
A. The FACTS curriculum uses leading language to imply life begins at fertilization: “After conception, the tiny baby moves down the fallopian tube toward the mother's uterus. About the sixth to tenth day after conception, when the baby is no bigger than this dot (.), baby snuggles into the soft nest in the lining of the mother’s uterus."
B. The WAIT Training program states, "Just as a woman needs to feel a man's devotion to her, a man has a primary need to feel a woman's admiration.
C. Why kNOw claims, "In heterosexual sex, condoms fail to prevent HIV approximately 31% of the time." In fact, the Centers for Disease Control state, "latex condoms, when used consistently and correctly, are highly effective in preventing transmission of HIV."
These studies have led to the continuing debate about the effectiveness of abstinence-only sex education.
Sources:
Fact Sheet: Section 510 State Abstinence Education Program. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Families and Youth Services Bureau. www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb/content/abstinence/factsheet.htm (accessed March 15, 2008).
Fact Sheet: Abstinence-Only Sex Education. Planned Parenthood Federation of America (January 2005).
The Content of Federally Funded Abstinence Only Education Programs. Prepared for Rep. Henry A Waxman, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform (December 2004).
Press Release: SIECUS Applauds Iowa's Refusal of Title V Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding. Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. www.siecus.org/media/press/press0165.html (accessed March 15, 2008).
