Since fiscal year 1998, thanks to 1996 legislation, the Department of Health and Human Services has allocated $50 million annually in federal funding for programs that teach abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as the expected standard for school-age children.   States must match this federal funding at 75 percent, resulting in a total annual expenditure of $87.5 million for Title V, Section 510 abstinence education programs.   Unfortunately, these programs, which have been funded for the past nine years, don't work.

A recent study commissioned by HHS found that children who received abstinence only education were no more likely to abstain from sex than any other children.  Put scientifically, "youth in the program group were no more likely than control group youth to have abstained from sex and, among those who reported having had sex, they had similar numbers of sexual partners and had initiated sex at the same mean age."
 
The study dealt a blow to Republicans, who traditionally favor the teaching of abstinence-only over sexual education in schools.  But Democrats couldn't quite celebrate the study results, as they also debunked the widely held Democratic view that those in abstinence-only programs are more likely to become pregnant and contract sexually transmitted diseases.  The study found that students who participated in abstinence-only programs were no more likely to have engaged in unprotected sex than any other youth.

If you've ever wondered exactly what abstinence-only programs are meant to teach, there are 7 tenets, as described below.



Definition of Abstinence Education for Title V, Section 510 Programs

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

H.    Teach the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity

And so it seems that despite the attempted socialization of our youth, you just can't get kids to stop having sex.   Not even for $87.5 million a year.  In thinking about this stdy, the words of my favorite evolutionary science professor from Emory seem very relevant:  "The only human drive that exceeds the drive for self-preservation of life is the drive for sex."