Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #116386

William Smith, Public Policy Office, SIECUS, 1706 R Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009, 202 265-2405, willismith_2000@yahoo.com

For nearly twenty five years, the US government has funded various types of programs to teach abstinence-only-until-marriage as a means of promoting behavior change around sexuality. Over $1 billion has been spent in this time with $600 million coming in just the last five years. In December 2004, a Congressional report was released that found that nearly 80% of federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage grantees under Community –based Abstinence Education grants “contain false, misleading or distorted information about reproductive health.” The report, titled “The Content of Federally Funded Abstinence Education Programs,” highlighted the serious lack of oversight of these programs and raises serious ethical questions about the use of federal tax dollars in miseducating young people about basic reproductive and sexual health facts. In addition, these programs also fail to address issues for sexually active young people, those who may be experiencing sexual abuse, and gay, lesbian, bisexual and questioning youth. These same programs also perpetuate outdated gender stereotypes that relegate women to the roles of wife and mother. Finally, the laws that support abstinence-only-until-marriage programs censor teachers and instructors from providing the moist basic of information about effective sexual health promotion.

This presentation will provide detailed examples of these ethical concerns, drawing on the 2004 report, as well as over a decade of research conducted by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).

Learning Objectives: Attendees will be able to

• Identify the major ethical concerns with the materials covered in abstinence-only-until-marriage programs
• Articulate the major arguments related the to role of censorship imposed upon teachers and instructors of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs
• Identify the key areas of misinformation and medically inaccurate messages in commonly used abstinence-only-until-marriage programs
• Identify key audiences -- such as sexaully active youth, sexually abused youth and gay and lesbian youth -- who are stigmatized by commonly used abstinence-only-until-marriage programs

Keywords: Gender, Sexuality

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.