Federal Funds Spent on School-Based Abstinence Programs Prove To Be Wasted Funds

As schools and religious programs continue to preach the value of abstaining from sexual activity before marriage, a report shows that the millions of dollars spent on these Federally funded programs are actually a waste of money.

In 2007, the government distributed $165 Million USD for the Abstinence Education Program (AEP) geared to teach abstinence from sexual activity until marriage in order to avoid unintended pregnancies, STDS and correlative health issues. The programs were supported by Health and Human Resources, schools and religious organizations across the country, with ten of the fifty states receiving nearly $85 Million, or more than half of the total funding. Those states include Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. According to a news report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report, showing multiple areas of concern over these programs. The burning question: Is abstinence-until-marriage preventing STDs and unintended pregnancies? Apparently not, according to the GAO's report. The report, backed by study data and legal issues concluded that the money being spent by the Federal Government on the Abstinence programs needed some further investigation because the results of such programs were not what the intended ones. Under certain legal provisions, the wording of materials must be medically accurate. However, according to the GAO report, there were some states, specifically those who received the bolus of the funding, who skewed or even lied about condom use.

“One state official described an instance in which abstinence-until-marriage materials incorrectly suggested that HIV can pass through condoms because the latex used in condoms is porous”

These types of misstatements have created the need for recommendations for HHS procedures to ensure more accuracy of the materials being distributed. In April, 2008, grantees will be required, starting in FY08 to sign written assurances of accuracy of information. A legal issue, if nothing more. Also included in the GAO report was information on three studies that provided no information that showed abstinence programs work. In a study accomplished by Mathmatica Policy Research, data provided in the report and by the study showed that teens who were in the abstinence group were no more likely to abstain from sex before marriage than teens in the control group. Furthermore, they initiated sex at the same age and had the same number of sexual partners as the control group. Another study provided conclusive results that showed a lack of effectiveness of abstinence programs. A third study by the CDC is still ongoing. The bottom line is that abstinence programs in an of themselves are great theories but do not guarantee that teens will in fact abstain from sexual activity. As the Mathmatica study showed, even when on an abstinence program, teens are no less likely to wait until marriage and still have similar numbers of sexual partners. In light of the recent statistics showing that one in four teens has an STD, including accurate information about condom use and safe sex practices into information packets is probably the ounce of prevention that will be worth the pound of cure. Instead of "buckle up for safety", how about "cover up for safety"?