States reject abstinence classes, funds

Some are walking away from federal dollars rather than teaching students to avoid sex

In an emerging revolt against abstinence-only sex education, states are turning down millions of dollars in federal grants, unwilling to accept White House dictates that the money be used for classes focused almost exclusively on teaching chastity.

In Ohio, Gov. Ted Strickland said that regardless of the state's sluggish economic picture, he simply did not see the point in taking part in the controversial State Abstinence Education Grant program any more.

Five other states -- Wisconsin, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Montana and New Jersey -- either already have left the program, which is managed by a unit of the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services, or plan to drop out of it by the end of the year.

No promoting condoms

Strickland, like most of the other governors who are pulling the plug on the funding, said that the program has too many restrictions and rules to be practical. Among other things, the money cannot be used to promote condom or contraceptive use, and it requires teachers to emphasize ideas such as that bearing children outside of wedlock is harmful to society and "likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects."

And, according to the governor's spokesman, Keith Dailey, Strickland sees little evidence that the program has been effective. "If the state is going to spend money on teaching and protecting kids, the governor believes it's better to spend it in a smarter, more comprehensive approach," Dailey said.

That states are walking away from such funding alarms abstinence-only groups, who say that cutting off this source of revenue will close dozens of nonprofit sex education groups -- and undermine the progress they have made to fight teen pregnancy and curtail the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

States have used the money to help public and private schools start and run educational programs, develop classroom instruction for nonprofit groups and pay for advertising and other media campaigns.

"There are kids who don't want to know how to put on a condom, because they don't want to have sex," said Leslee Unruh, president and chief executive of the South Dakota-based National Abstinence Clearinghouse, the nation's largest network of abstinence educators. "So why can't kids who want to abstain have equal time, funding and education in the classroom as kids who are having sex?"

Incorrect information

To critics, the policy shift addresses growing concerns that sexually active youths are not getting access to medically accurate information about use of contraceptives and disease prevention.

In an Oct. 3 report that surveyed abstinence programs in 10 states, the Government Accountability Office concluded that such programs have not been proven to work, and at times teach kids medically inaccurate information about condoms and AIDS.

The report found that in one instance, materials used in the class "incorrectly suggested that HIV can pass through condoms because the latex used in condoms is porous." In another program, kids were wrongly taught that "when a person is infected with the human papilloma virus, the virus is 'present for life.' "

White House support for the so-called Title V grant remains strong.

In a federal budget that is tight for nearly everything but entitlements, homeland security and the military effort in Afghanistan and Iraq, President Bush has asked Congress to carve out $191 million for the program in fiscal 2008, an increase of $28 million over current funding.