Abstinence-only Education
Since his tenure as governor of Texas, President George W. Bush has made no secret of his view that sex education should teach teenagers "abstinence only" rather than including information on other ways to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Unfortunately, despite spending more than $10 million on abstinence-only programs in Texas alone, this strategy has not been shown to be effective at curbing teen pregnancies or halting the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
During President Bush's tenure as governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000, for instance, with abstinence-only programs in place, the state ranked last in the nation in the decline of teen birth rates among 15- to 17-year-old females.1 Overall, the teen pregnancy rate in Texas was exceeded by only four other states.2
The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists all support comprehensive sex education programs that encourage abstinence while also providing adolescents with information on how to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases.3 In fact, a recent systematic analysis of pregnancy prevention strategies for adolescents found that, far from reducing unwanted pregnancies, abstinence programs actually "may increase pregnancies in partners of male participants."4
In addition, the Bush administration distorted science-based performance measures to test whether abstinence-only programs were proving effective, such as charting the birth rate of female program participants.5 In place of such established measures, the Bush administration required the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to track only participants' program attendance and attitudes, measures designed to obscure the lack of efficacy of abstinence-only programs.6
In addition to distorting performance measures, the Bush administration suppressed other information at odds with its preferred policies. At the behest of higher-ups in the Bush administration, according to a source inside the CDC, the agency was forced to discontinue a project called “Programs that Work,” which identified sex education programs found to be effective in scientific studies.7 All five of the programs identified in 2002 involved comprehensive sex education for teenagers and none were abstinence-only programs. In ending the project, the CDC removed all information about these programs from its website.
One scientist, recently departed from a high-ranking position at the CDC, recounts that, on one occasion, even top staff scientists at the agency were required by the administration to attend a day-long session purportedly devoted to the “science of abstinence.” As this source puts it, “out of the entire session, conducted by a nonscientist, the only thing resembling science was one study reportedly in progress and another not even begun.”8 Despite the absence of supporting data, this source and others contend, CDC scientists were regularly reminded to push the administration’s abstinence-only stance. As he puts it, “The effect was very chilling.”9
Note: This page is an excerpt from the 2004 UCS report Scientific Integrity in Policymaking.
1. See “Science or Politics? George W. Bush and the Future of Sexuality Education in the United States,” fact sheet published by Advocates for Youth. Online at www.advocatesforyouth.org.
2. Ibid.
3. Welfare Reform: A Review of Abstinence Education and Transitional Medical Assistance, April 23, 2002: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Health, House Committee on Energy and Commerce, 107th Congress, 2002, testimony of David W. Kaplan, MD.
4. A. DiCenso, G. Guyatt, A. Willan, and L. Griffith, “Interventions to reduce unintended pregnancies among adolescents: systematic review of randomized controlled trials,” British Medical Journal, Volume 324, June 15, 2002.
5. These former performance measures can be found at Federal Register 65:69562-65 (November 17, 2000).
6. The new Bush administration performance measures are detailed in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, SPRANS Community-Based Abstinence Education Program, Pre-Application Workshop (December, 2002). Online at www.mchb.hrsa.gov/programs/adolescents/abedguidetext.htm.
7. Author interview with current CDC staff member, name withheld on request, November 2003.
8. Author interview with former CDC staff member, name withheld on request, March 2004.
9. Ibid.
