Congress Cannot 'Afford To Pass Up' Funding For Comprehensive Sex Education, Editorial Says

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 14 Apr 2009 - 4:00 PST

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions

Although recent increases in teenage pregnancy rates "cannot be attributed to any one cause," the "change is worrisome," a Boston Globe editorial says. According to the editorial, the U.S. has "teen pregnancy rates befitting nations in the developing world," and teen pregnancy is now "a staple of American culture, especially after the much-covered celebrity pregnancies." Congress has focused its efforts to address teen pregnancy "on the classroom. Yet because sexual education models vary, some students get a far more effective education than others," the editorial says. "A big problem is a resource deficit for sexual education," the editorial says, adding, "Congress has approved $1.5 billion in grants for abstinence-only education to states in the last 10 years, despite" a 2007 HHS study that showed abstinence-only education did not reduce rates of teenage sexual activity. The study's findings "demand a rethink in educational strategy, and yet even after almost half the states rejected this funding, Congress is still only half-listening," according to the editorial.

The editorial notes that Congress is scaling back funding for abstinence-only education "to cope with budget shortfalls." It adds, "Yet decreasing funds for ineffective programs will not solve the teen pregnancy problem without substituting funding for those programs that do work." Teens who receive comprehensive sex education -- "including accurate information about contraception in addition to promoting abstinence" -- are at a lower risk of pregnancy than teens who receive abstinence-only education, according to the editorial. It notes that legislation (S. 611, H.R. 1551) introduced by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) -- "which would provide grants for comprehensive sexual education programs and set up a system to evaluate their effectiveness" -- could be called "abstinence-plus." The editorial concludes that funding for "comprehensive programs that are effective at reducing teen pregnancy has much higher returns than abstinence-only money," adding that this "investment in teenage reproductive health and safety is not one Congress can afford to pass up" (Boston Globe, 4/10).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.