ACTION ALERT
Do Members of Congress Know About the Abstinence Program in Their Districts?
If your Member of Congress has not yet visited the successful abstinence program in your area, invite him or her to do so during the Memorial Day Recess at the end of May….or set an appointment to meet with your Member in the district. Call now to get on the schedule! The best way to cut through the incorrect rhetoric around this issue is for policy makers to see and talk to those who provide or benefit from an abstinence program in their districts. For advice about visiting with your Member of Congress, check out “15 Minutes With Your Member of Congress”.?
Title V Funds
While we do not know the timetable for distribution of these funds to states, Title V expired June 30, 2009. Funds should begin flowing again very soon, provided procedures are expeditiously followed within the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Action Alert
NAEA has encouraged each Governor to accept the state funds for abstinence-centered education, but it is even more important that you call and write to your governor with a similar encouragement. Contact your governor’s office to urge acceptance of Title V Abstinence Education Funds. Call and follow up with a letter to your Governor’s Office. Since two grants are now available for sex education to the states, it is essential that Governors accept Title V funds to assure freedom of choice for sex education among communities in your state. Contact us to receive a sample letter. NAEA developed a document that contains key information that your Governor needs to know about Title V. Access the fact sheet here.
FACT SHEET:
Title V Section 510 Abstinence Education
Providing Health & Choice to Teens in Each State
Background: In 1996,
The Reality:
1. States and communities have real choice in sex education with Title V funding
· The health care bill reauthorized Title V Abstinence Education for five years, but it also initiated a state block grant for contraceptive-centered education (PREP) for 5 years. The 2010 federal budget eliminated all other funding dedicated exclusively to abstinence education
· Local communities may choose whether or not to use Title V abstinence education funding, if accepted by the state. Acceptance of this funding does not preclude schools from also teaching other sex education approaches with separate funding.
· But…..the governor must approve the funding coming to the state before local communities have this choice!
2. Accepting the Title V Abstinence Education Block Grant is economically sound
· Although the funding requires a $3 state match for every $4 in federal funds, many if not most states, require community-based sub-grantees to provide the match.
· Direct services to students in schools and communities offer maximum benefit to students and make satisfaction of the match relatively easy through “in kind” donations of time, space, and expertise. (NAEA can provide technical assistance to states in implementing this model)
· Every $1 spent to help teens delay sexual activity affords at least a $6 savings in teen pregnancy prevention.
3. Abstinence-centered education is holistic
· Abstinence education recognizes that teen sexual activity affects the whole person and so information is provided that deals with all aspects. Far from a “just say no” approach, skills taught include:
· Building healthy relationships
· Goal setting
· Effective decision making
· Self efficacy skills
· Medically accurate information on contraception
· Full information on STDs
· By contrast, so-called ‘comprehensive sex education’ focuses almost exclusively on reducing physical consequences of sex with little emphasis on abstinence or other related issues.
4. Abstinence education’s single-focused risk avoidance approach is successful in delaying teen sexual activity.
· A landmark study was released
· It found that abstinence education was very effective at reducing teen sex and worked better than both “comprehensive” sex education and “safe” sex programs.
· At the same time, students who received abstinence-centered education were no less likely to use a condom than their peers
5. Abstinence education is preferred in many communities, and must continue to be a choice for youth.
· The abstinence–centered approach is preferred over condom-based instruction in many communities throughout the country. Offering parents and schools a choice in the type of sex education their children receive not only supports American pluralism but the value of local control in education
· A number of states have abstinence education laws that require that the major emphasis of their sex education and
· “Comprehensive” sex education cannot fulfill this requirement given its minimal treatment of abstinence
NAEA