Should 'Abstinence-Only' Sex-Ed be Taught in Public Schools?

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Abstinence education is an important component of comprehensive sex education, but by itself it is not enough. The past decade has demonstrated conclusively that abstinence-only programs don't work.

Since 1996, there have been major expansions in federal support for “abstinence-only until marriage” (AOUM) programs. Federally funded abstinence-only programs require the exclusive teaching of abstinence-only until marriage and prohibit teaching about condoms or other contraceptives—other than to discuss failure rates. To date, AOUM programs that conform to the eight point criteria established by the federal government and focus exclusively on promoting abstinence until marriage have not shown credible evidence of significantly delaying sexual initiation or reducing the frequency of sexual intercourse.

And while abstinence from sexual intercourse is theoretically fully protective against pregnancy and disease, in actual practice abstinence often fails. In a nationally representative study of adolescents aged 12-17 years, 88 percent of adolescents who took virginity pledges within AOUM programs reported engaging in sexual intercourse before marriage. Additionally, the study reported that adolescents who took virginity pledges were less likely to use condoms when they became sexually active, more likely to engage in oral-genital and anogenital sexual behaviors, and less likely to seek and obtain care for STIs than non-pledgers.

A congressional report prepared for Rep. Henry A. Waxman in December 2004 on AOUM programs commonly supported by the U.S. federal programs found that 11 of the 13 most frequently used curricula contained false, misleading or distorted information about reproductive health, including inaccurate information about contraceptive effectiveness, risks of abortion and other scientific errors. In addition, these curricula treat gender stereotypes as scientific fact, impose moral judgments and blur religious with scientific viewpoints.

The lack of evidence supporting the effectiveness of AOUM programs, as well as evidence demonstrating the potential harm such programs have on adolescents' sexual health, have led 17 states to withdraw from Title V AOUM funding, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.