Rejection of Abstinence-Only Funds

Title V, Section 510 of the Social Security Act defines “abstinence education” and provides funds to states to promote abstinence-only messages.¹ Programs are required to teach that “sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects,” and that “a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in [the] context of marriage is the expected standard of sexual activity.”² In addition, federally funded abstinence-only programs are expressly prohibited from providing any information to adolescents about the proper usage of contraceptives or their proven efficacy in preventing unintended pregnancy and, for certain contraceptive devices, the transmission of STIs.³ At the same time, they are specifically required to inform participants of contraceptive failure rates.⁴ Furthermore, many abstinence-only programs promote stereotypes about gender and relationships that may compromise young women’s confidence in their ability to make responsible, pro-active decisions about their sexual health and alienate youths at especially high risk for problems relating to sexual health.⁵

As studies have increasingly demonstrated that abstinence-only programs fail to prevent adolescents from engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage—the primary objective of abstinence-only education—or to increase the likelihood that teens will practice safer sex methods when they do become sexually active,⁶ states have begun to reject the federal funds available to them for abstinence-education. The Report Card examines whether states have turned down Title V federal funding for abstinence-only programs.

Impact of the Affordable Care Act

Though Congress allowed the Title V abstinence-only program to lapse when its funding expired in June 2009, the Affordable Care Act unfortunately restores the funding for these programs for another five years. However, the new law also establishes funding for comprehensive sex education programs (called "Personal Responsibility Education Programs") that must include evidence-based, medically accurate, and age-appropriate information on contraception, sexually-transmitted infections, healthy relationships, and other adult preparation topics.

Has the state rejected federal Title V funding for abstinence-only programs?

States receive a "meets policy" if they have rejected Title V funding for abstinence-only programs. States that have not rejected the funds receive a "no/harmful policy."

This is a new indicator for the 2010 Report Card.

State	Strength of Policy	Change from 2007
Alabama	No Policy	N/A
Alaska	Meets Policy	N/A
Arizona ⁷	No Policy	N/A
Arkansas	No Policy	N/A
California	Meets Policy	N/A
Colorado	Meets Policy	N/A
Connecticut	Meets Policy	N/A
Delaware	Meets Policy	N/A
District of Columbia	Meets Policy	N/A
Florida	No Policy	N/A
Georgia	No Policy	N/A
Hawaii	No Policy	N/A
Idaho	Meets Policy	N/A
Illinois	No Policy	N/A
Indiana	No Policy	N/A
Iowa	Meets Policy	N/A
Kansas	Meets Policy	N/A
Kentucky	No Policy	N/A
Louisiana	No Policy	N/A
Maine	Meets Policy	N/A
Maryland	No Policy	N/A
Massachusetts	Meets Policy	N/A
Michigan	No Policy	N/A
Minnesota	Meets Policy	N/A
Mississippi	No Policy	N/A
Missouri	No Policy	N/A
Montana	Meets Policy	N/A
Nebraska	No Policy	N/A
Nevada	No Policy	N/A
New Hampshire	No Policy	N/A
New Jersey	Meets Policy	N/A
New Mexico	Meets Policy	N/A
New York	Meets Policy	N/A
North Carolina	No Policy	N/A
North Dakota	No Policy	N/A
Ohio	Meets Policy	N/A
Oklahoma	No Policy	N/A
Oregon	No Policy	N/A
Pennsylvania	No Policy	N/A
Rhode Island	Meets Policy	N/A
South Carolina	No Policy	N/A
South Dakota	No Policy	N/A
Tennessee	Meets Policy	N/A
Texas	No Policy	N/A
Utah	No Policy	N/A
Vermont	Meets Policy	N/A
Virginia	Meets Policy	N/A
Washington	Meets Policy	N/A
West Virginia	No Policy	N/A
Wisconsin	Meets Policy	N/A
Wyoming	Meets Policy	N/A

Policy Indicator Counts

Meets Policy:

24

Limited Policy:

0

Weak Policy:

0

No/Harmful Policy:

27

Better:

0

Same:

0

Worse:

0

Data Source: Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), "A Portrait of Sexuality Education and Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in the States (Fiscal Year 2009 Edition)", July 2010, available at http://www.siecus.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=487&pare..., accessed September 10, 2010.

Footnotes

¹ 42 U.S.C. § 710 (2009). Programs funded by Title V target “those groups which are most likely to bear children out-of-wedlock.” Id. at 710(b)(1).
Rebecca A. Maynard et al., Mathematica Policy Research, “First-Year Impacts of Four Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Education Programs,” 2005, available at http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/05/abstinence/report.pdf, accessed September 24, 2010.

² 42 U.S.C. § 710(b)(2).

³ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “Workshop Summary: Scientific Evidence on Condom Effectiveness for Sexually Transmitted Diseases” (Bethesda: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, July 20, 2001), available at http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/research/topics/STI/pdf/condomreport.pdf, accessed September 24, 2010; Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER), “Birth Control Guide,” Jan. 25, 2008, available at http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/birth-control/BI99999/PAGE=all&METHOD=print, accessed September 24, 2010.

⁴ Funding Opportunity: Community-Based Abstinence Education, 70 Fed. Reg. 29,318, 29,320, 29,321, 29,324 (May 20, 2005); See ACF, Funding Opportunity: Community-Based Abstinence Education (Jan. 26, 2006), at 1, 7-8, 15, 27, available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/pdf/HHS-2006-ACF-ACYF-AE-0099.pdf, accessed September 24, 2010.

⁵ Julie F. Kay et al., Sex, Lies & Stereotypes: How Abstinence-Only Programs Harm Women and Girls (New York: Legal Momentum, 2008), available at http://legalm.convio.net/site/DocServer/SexLies_Stereotypes2008.pdf?docI..., accessed September 24, 2010.

⁶ For example, see: Rebecca A. Maynard et al., First-Year Impacts of Four Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Education Programs, (Princeton: Mathematica Policy Research, 2005), available at http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/05/abstinence/report.pdf, accessed September 24, 2010; Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, “What the Research Says,” Oct. 2007, available at http://www.siecus.org/policy/research_says.pdf, accessed September 24, 2010; Edward Smith et al., Evaluation of the Pennsylvania Abstinence Education and Related Services Initiatives: 1998-2002 (University Park: Pennsylvania State University, Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development, January 2003), available at http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/lib/health/familyhealth/evaluat.... 10, accessed September 24, 2010.

⁷ The state rejected Title V funding for abstinence-only programs for FY2009 under Governor Napolitano, but then reapplied after its new governor, Jan Brewer, took office.