What Is Abstinence Education?

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Abstinence education is a primary public health strategy to optimize the potential benefits to be gained by abstaining from sex outside of marriage. The benefits include decreased risk of depression, suicide ideation, suicide attempt, sexually transmitted disease, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and maternal and child poverty, and increased chances for future marriage and marital stability, and personal happiness. Abstinence education not only intervenes with healthy youth prior to becoming active in any sexual behaviors, but also offers hope and an alternative to those to who are sexually active, offering a better alternative for more stable relationships in the future, by abstaining from all future sexual activity until marriage.

In contrast, contraceptive education (sometimes called "comprehensive sex ed") is a tertiary public health response strategy, which attempts to reduce (not eliminate) the risks by normalizing sex with contraception for both abstinent and sexually activity adolescents. Contraceptive sex education accepts and allows for potential risk exposure, with the hope of reducing potential harm caused. Contraceptive sex education does not emphasize the benefits of abstinent behaviors and, in many cases, de-emphasizes the dangers of promiscuous sex.

Abstinence and contraceptive sex education differ in their desired behavioral changes, primary skill-set, and knowledge taught.

How Is Abstinence Education Funded?

The majority of federal funding for abstinence education flows through two separate programs administered by HHS.

The Title V Abstinence Education Block Grants to States is a formula program to assist states in providing abstinence education to those groups most likely to bear children out of wedlock. The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 provides $50 million annually for abstinence education. These dollars are distributed to the states, with a 75% match requirement, to allocate education agencies, school districts, community-based organizations, and statewide programs for abstinence education.
The Community-Based Abstinence Education program provides support to public and private entities for the implementation of abstinence education programs for adolescents age 12 through 18 in communities nationwide. The focus is to educate the adolescent population and create an environment within communities that supports adolescents in making decisions to abstain from sexual activity until marriage. This program is funded through the Administration for Children and Families of the Department of Health and Human Services in the Labor HHS bill. President Bush requested $142.5 million (an increase of $39 million over FY2005 funding) for Community-Based Abstinence Education in his FY2006 budget. The House approved $114.5 million increase for abstinence education on June 24, 2005. This is an increase of $10.8 million over the FY2005 funding level, and $28 million below the Bush budget request. The Senate provided a $105.5 million for FY06 on September 27, 2005; an increase of $1 million over FY2005 funding.

Are Abstinence Education Programs Effective?

Abstinence education programs have been shown to effectively promote health benefits by teaching teenagers that saving sex until marriage and remaining faithful afterwards is the best choice for health. A recent study found that teens who take virginity pledges are more than 50 percent less likely to become pregnant than teens that do not take a pledge. (Rector & Johnson, 2005) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also found that the increase in abstinence among teenagers is substantially more responsible for the drop in teenage pregnancy rates than any increased contraception use. The total number of sexually-experienced youth has decreased 16 percent from 1991 to 2001, reducing the risk of contracting and spreading STDs such as HIV/AIDS and HPV. (Santenelli, et al., 2004) The abstinence movement for American youth has sustained and significantly increased success in preventing unmarried sexual activity, out of wedlock pregnancies (Mohn, et al., 2003), and the spread of STDs. (Rector and Johnson, 2005)

Are Contraceptive Sex Education Programs Effective?

No condom-based sex education program has ever been shown to be effective in preventing teen pregnancy. (Johnson, 2004) The one program that was shown to be effective in preventing teen pregnancy gave the female students Depo Provera shots. And the boys in the study were more likely to have become fathers during their participation in the program than the boys in the comparison group. (Kirby, 2001)

How Does The Federal Government Define Abstinence Education?

Federal funding for abstinence education is tied to compliance with the definition included in the 1996 welfare reform law.

(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.