Waxman's Report on the Content of Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Education Programs 


The U. S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform—Minority Staff Special Investigations Division prepared a report for Rep. Henry Waxman on "The Content of Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Education Programs". The report found "that over 80% of the abstinence-only curricula...contains false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health." Federal funding for the abstinence-only programs will reach $167 million in 2005. 

The report states that "abstinence-only education programs are not allowed to teach their participants any methods to reduce the risk of pregnancy other than abstaining until marriage. They are allowed to mention contraceptives only to describe their failure rates." Many "exaggerate these failure rates, providing affirmatively false or misleading information."

Several curricula cite an erroneous study that claimed that condoms reduce HIV transmission by only 69%. The CDC, and the scientific consensus, says that "Latex condoms, when used consistently and correctly, are highly effective in preventing the transmission of HIV." A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine said "there was not a single case of HIV transmission between HIV-positive individuals and their HIV-negative partners using condoms consistently, despite a total of 15,000 acts of intercourse."

Several curricula also exaggerate condom failure rates in preventing pregnancy. Condoms have a "typical use" failure rate of about 15% and a "perfect use" failure rate of 2-3%. "Typical use" failures include people who use condoms incorrectly or only sometimes. The failure rates describe the probability of a couple experiencing pregnancy over the course of one year.

The report says that "abstinence-only curricula contain false and misleading information about the risks of abortion." One curriculum describes problems of sterility, a subsequent increase in premature births and tubal and cervical pregnancies. The report counters that "In fact, obstetrics textbooks teach that '[f]ertility is not altered by an elective abortion'," that "vacuum aspiration, the method used in most abortions in the United States, 'results in no increased incidence of midtrimester spontaneous abortions, preterm delivery, or low-birthweight infants in subsequent pregnancies'," and that "[s]ubsequent ectopic pregnancies are not increased if the first termination is done by vacuum aspiration." Abortion also has no long-term ill effects on emotional well-being.

The report says that abstinence-only curricula teach moral and religious views. They teach, for example, that having sex only within marriage "is the expected standard of human sexual activity." One curricula teaches that "life begins" at conception. "Several curricula offer as scientific fact moral or religious definitions of early fetuses as babies or people, in the process supplying inaccurate descriptions of their developmental state."

Several curricula "present [gender] stereotypes as scientific fact." One teaches "Women gauge their happiness and judge their success by their relationships. Men's happiness and success hinge on their accomplishments." The report says that "Some of the curricula describe girls as helpless or dependent upon men."

One curricula "implies that 50% of homosexual male teens have HIV." One includes "tears" and "sweat" as "at risk" for HIV transmission. According to the CDC, "[c]ontact with saliva, tears, or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of HIV."

The report concludes: "This report finds that over two-thirds of abstinence-only education programs funded by the largest federal abstinence initiative are using curricula with multiple scientific and medical inaccuracies. These curricula contain misinformation about condoms, abortion, and basic scientific facts. They also blur religion and science and present gender stereotypes as fact."
 

Posted: Tuesday - December 07, 2004 at 04:03 AM          

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