Federally
funded
abstinence-only
education
programs
are
teaching
students
false
and
misleading
information
as
scientific
fact,
including
scrambling
public
health
data
to
state
that
50
percent
of
gay
male
teens
have
HIV
and
that
HIV
can
be
spread
through
sweat
and
tears,
according
to
a
recent
congressional
report.
The
report,
released
Dec.
1
by
U.S.
Rep.
Henry
Waxman,
a
Democrat
from
California
who
is
a
strong
proponent
of
comprehensive
sex
education,
reviewed
curriculum
of
13
of
the
most
popular
abstinence
education
programs
funded
with
taxpayer
dollars.
Eleven
of
the
13
curricula
—
used
by
more
than
two-thirds
of
public
schools,
health
departments,
hospitals
and
religious
groups
in
the
U.S.
receiving
federal
grants
for
the
abstinence-only
materials
—
contain
“false,
misleading
or
distorted
information
about
reproductive
health,”
the
report
states.
In
one
key
example,
the
Waxman
report
accuses
the
FACTS
abstinence-only
curriculum,
distributed
by
Northwest
Family
Services
in
East
Texas,
of
stating
that
half
of
gay
male
teens
are
HIV
positive.
The
claim
appears
to
be
a
misreading
of
data
from
the
Centers
for
Disease
Control
&
Prevention’s
May
2002
report,
“Young
People
at
Risk:
HIV/AIDS
Among
America’s
Youth.”
The
report
used
surveillance
data
analyzed
from
25
states
with
integrated
HIV
and
AIDS
reporting
systems
for
the
period
between
January
1996
and
June
1999.
“Among
young
men
aged
13-
to
24-years,
49
percent
of
all
AIDS
cases
reported
in
2000
were
among
men
who
have
sex
with
men,”
the
report
said.
In
short,
the
CDC
found
that
49
percent
of
the
male
teens
with
HIV
in
the
study
had
had
sex
with
men
—
not
that
49
percent
of
all
gay
male
teens
are
HIV-positive.
Leslee
Unruh,
president
of
the
Abstinence
Clearinghouse,
said
Waxman’s
claim
that
FACTS
“suggests”
50
percent
of
gay
male
teens
are
HIV-positive
was
taken
“out
of
context.”
The
number
“would
have
been
an
absurd
statement
if
it
was
published
as
such,”
Unruh
said.
The
Abstinence
Clearinghouse
is
a
non-profit
national
educational
organization
that
distributes
abstinence
materials
and
represents
such
programs
at
the
national,
state
and
local
level.
“The
chart
in
the
[FACTS]
curriculum
is
from
the
CDC,”
Unruh
said
in
an
e-mail
statement.
The
chart
reports
“the
total
13-
to
19-year
old
teens
infected
with
HIV
from
July
1,
1999,
through
June
30,
2000
—
5,262
teens”
broken
down
by
gender
and
risk
factor,”
she
said.
“Of
the
teen
boys
infected
with
HIV
between
1999
and
2000,
50
percent
contracted
HIV
through
homosexual
contact.
This
is
a
self-report
number,”
Unruh
said.
U.S.
Sen.
Bill
Frist
(R-Tenn.),
the
Senate’s
only
physician,
stated
publicly
after
Waxman’s
report
that
the
abstinence
education
materials
should
be
reviewed.
Waxman’s
report
did
not
focus
specifically
on
gay
youth,
but
it
did
point
out
scientifically
inaccurate
findings
about
condoms
that
are
being
taught
as
scientific
fact
by
abstinence
curricula
—
putting
both
gay
and
straight
young
people
at
risk
if
they
decide
condoms
aren’t
worth
using.
According
to
the
Why
kNOw
Abstinence
Education
program,
condoms
fail
to
prevent
HIV
in
heterosexual
sex
31
percent
of
the
time.
That
statement
directly
contradicts
CDC
data.
“They’re
distorting
the
facts,
and
a
lot
of
it
is
just
to
scare,”
Waxman
said.
“This
is
totally
inappropriate,
especially
when
in
some
cases
we’re
dealing
with
life
and
death.”
The
Bush
administration
is
a
strong
supporter
of
abstinence-only
education,
which
in
many
cases
teaches
abstinence
until
marriage.
In
fiscal
year
2001,
under
the
last
budget
passed
under
the
Clinton
administration,
abstinence-only
education
programs
received
approximately
$80
million
in
federal
funding,
according
to
Waxman’s
report.
Since
then,
federal
abstinence-only
funding
has
ballooned
to
$167
million
in
funding
for
2005.
President
Bush
had
wanted
$270
million
for
abstinence-only
programs
for
2005.
“I
don’t
think
talking
about
abstinence
is
wrong,
…
but
abstinence-only
is
not
very
effective
and
our
youth
ought
to
know
more
about
how
to
protect
themselves,”
Waxman
said.
But
Alma
Golden,
a
deputy
assistant
secretary
in
the
U.S.
Health
&
Human
Services
Department,
issued
a
statement
saying
Waxman’s
report
“misses
the
boat”
and
accused
the
lawmaker
of
issuing
it
for
“purely
political
reasons.”
“Abstaining
from
sex
is
the
most
effective
means
of
preventing
the
sexual
transmission
of
HIV,
STDs
and
preventing
pregnancy
and
the
emotional,
social
and
educational
consequences
of
teen
sexual
activity,”
Golden
said.
With
gay
marriage
now
legal
only
in
Massachusetts,
and
the
White
House
backing
an
amendment
to
the
U.S.
Constitution
defining
marriage
as
between
a
man
and
a
woman,
federal
emphasis
on
abstinence-until-married
education
takes
on
a
more
sinister
edge,
according
to
gay
rights
activists.
When
gay
students
are
taught
they
remain
abstinent
until
married,
but
at
the
same
time
see
gay
marriage
banned
across
the
nation,
a
sense
of
fatalism
can
take
over,
said
Sean
Cahill,
policy
director
at
the
National
Gay
&
Lesbian
Task
Force.
“Kids
think
they
may
as
well
not
use
a
condom.
These
programs
are
a
real
waste
of
our
tax
dollars
and,
in
my
view,
criminally
negligent,”
he
said.
Ryan
Lee
contributed
to
this
report.
