The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reluctantly bowed to public pressure on Monday and released a pivotal abstinence study with results that fly in the face of the Obama administration’s policy of “zeroing out” all abstinence-education funding.

CitizenLink and pro-family organizations alerted people Wednesday that the administration had refused to release the study. The HHS website was shut down on Friday, due to the overwhelming response. On Monday, the study was posted online.

The taxpayer-funded research, “The National Survey of Adolescents and Their Parents,” comes as critical funding for abstinence programs is set to end Sept. 30.

The U.S. Congress and the administration canceled all abstinence-centered program grants for the FY2010 budget, putting at risk more than 2 million students who are expected to attend 176 abstinence programs this fall.

Up until now, cash-strapped states reportedly have been “on the fence” about applying for federal abstinence-only sex education program funds. States have until Aug. 30 to apply.

States that participated in the 2009 Title V abstinence-only education program were:

Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington and West Virginia.

According to reports, Arkansas, Illinois, Oklahoma and Hawaii – four states that rank highest in teen pregnancy rates –have chosen to apply for federal funding to teach the Personal Responsibility Education program – an administration-backed initiative that focuses on contraception, as well as “safe sex” considerations for gay-identified youth.

Activists have been pushing the Obama administration to remove all abstinence funding, calling it “draconian and profoundly anti-LGBT…”

The abstinence study’s executive summary indicated that:

• 70 percent of parents agreed with the statement: “It is against your values for your adolescents to have sexual intercourse before marriage.
• 70 percent of parents agreed with the statement: “Having sexual intercourse is something only married people should do.”
• Adolescents had similar responses for the two questions.

Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, was elated by the release of the study, but said, “We are greatly concerned that the sex education policy being implemented by this administration does not reflect the values of what most parents and teens clearly want.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Learn about abstinence.

Read Chad Hills’ blog, “Citizen Action Prompts HHS to Release Abstinence Survey.”

Print