Back in 2015, there was a brief resurgence in “Abstinence-only” education funding…

There have been improvements since then. But while our attention was diverted elsewhere, a war has been taking place over the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program, a comprehensive educational approach credited with helping to drive the nation’s teen pregnancy rate to an all-time low. Perversely, in his 2018 budget, Trump stated that he would fund only ineffective abstinence-based programs and in July of 2017, his appointees overruled agency career officials and cut funding for the last two years of this highly successful program. A lawsuit is pending and the administration agreed to put back some of the program’s funding. But not for the existing programs. On Friday, when all bad things happen now, the HHS announced their new requirements for abstinence-based sex-ed programs. So here we go…

They re-branded “Abstinence-only”. Meet “Sexual risk avoidance”! It’s still bad.

(Guttmacher Institute)
“Abstinence-only” training is ineffective: (nbc) In 2007, the non-partisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy stated “At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners”, and that more comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavior effects.” Continue reading “Tues 4/24 – The far-right knows that “Abstinence-only” is a loser…” →