Medical Group Rejects
Bush Administration
Abstinence-Only
Policy
Leading Medical
Association Rejects Abstinence-Only Policies;
Programs at Odds with
Medical Ethics and Basic Human Rights;
Advocates for Youth
Calls for Moratorium on Federal Funding
Advocates for Youth,
U.S. Newswire – Medialink Worldwide, From the Web, January 9, 2006
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 -- The
Society of Adolescent Medicine, in one of the most exhaustive reviews to date of
government-funded abstinence-only programs, has rejected current administration
policy that promotes abstinence as the only sexual health prevention strategy
for young people in the United States and abroad.
James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, said: "The report reads
like an indictment. Abstinence-only is bad science, bad policy, and a
blatant violation of medical ethics and basic human rights. Enough is
enough. The time has come for Congress to declare an immediate moratorium
on federal funding for these programs. It is a national scandal that we
have already spent over $1.1 billion of taxpayers' dollars on programs that
don't work and that censor vital public health information for young people.
"It is time to restore sanity and common sense to our public health policy.
The Society report is not anti-abstinence. It clearly supports abstinence
as a strategy to protect young people's sexual health. But the report
makes clear that, to be effective, abstinence education needs to be delivered in
a comprehensive context along with information on condoms and birth control.
"We have eight million young people under the age of 19 who are sexually active,
yet 79 percent of junior high and 45 percent of high school teachers fail to
teach about condoms. No wonder we have the highest rates of teen pregnancy
and sexually transmitted disease in the developed world."
Among the highlights of the report:
Abstinence-only Programs Undermine Medical Ethics and Basic Human Rights
"We believe that current federal abstinence-only-until-marriage policy is
ethically problematic, as it excludes accurate information about contraception,
misinforms by overemphasizing or misstating the risks of contraception, and
fails to require the use of scientifically accurate information while promoting
approaches of questionable value."
"Abstinence-only programs threaten fundamental human rights to health,
information, and life."
Abstinence Only "Works Every Time" -- Think Again
"Based on our review of the evaluations of specific abstinence-only curricula
and research on virginity pledges, user failure with abstinence appears to be
very high. Thus, although theoretically completely effective in preventing
pregnancy, in actual practice the efficacy of abstinence-only interventions may
approach zero."
Abstinence vs. Abstinence Only
"There is broad support for abstinence as a necessary and appropriate part of
sexuality education. Controversy arises when abstinence is provided to
adolescents as a sole choice and where health information on other choices is
restricted or misrepresented."
Abstinence-only Programs Negatively Impact Other Federal Policies.
Citing the Administration's requirement that U.S. AIDS relief programs abroad
spend at least 33 percent of prevention dollars on abstinence-only programs, the
report states: "Human rights groups find that U.S. government policy has
become a source for misinformation and censorship in these countries. U.S.
emphasis on abstinence may also have reduced condom availability and access to
accurate information on HIV/AIDS in some countries."
NOTE: Report available at
http://www.jahonline.org/article/PIIS1054139X05004672/abstract.
Advocates for Youth is a national, nonprofit organization that creates programs
and advocates for policies that help young people make safe, responsible
decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.
Contact: Debra Hauser of Advocates for Youth, 202-419-3420, Web:
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org.
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