NAEA Questions Why HHS Study Is Ignored in Sex Education Policy
Washington, DC (August 24, 2010) - Teen-sex advocacy groups have pushed for an end to abstinence education funding, despite the fact that a recent HHS study showed most teens and their parents support the core message of the program. The study, The National Survey of Adolescents and Their Parents, was posted Monday to the HHS website after significant grassroots pressure. It calls into question whether recent sex education policy decisions truly reflect cultural norms or clear evidence-based trends1. According to the findings, about 70% of parents agreed that it is “against [their] values for [their] adolescents to have sexual intercourse before marriage” and that “having sexual intercourse is something only married people should do.” Adolescents gave similar responses.Valerie Huber, Executive Director of NAEA commented: “We are greatly concerned that the sex education policy being implemented by this administration does not reflect the values of what most parents and teens clearly want.“
One hundred seventy six (176) abstinence programs will lose funding for their abstinence-centered programs on September 30 because Congress and the Administration canceled all grants going to abstinence-centered programming in their FY2010 budget. Some programs will lose their funding midstream in their five-year grant award. This means that nearly two million students will return to school without the skill-building lessons they have come to expect in their abstinence education classes.
Larry McAdoo, executive director of STARS, an abstinence program in Mississippi that will lose funding said: “Our state has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation. I do not understand why our services to needy teens would be cut short. Mississippi’s teens need more resources, not less. Our abstinence program equips youth with the skills necessary to make healthy choices. Soon, however, Mississippi’s youth will be left without any resources to counter the sexual messages with which they are continually bombarded.”
Valerie Huber, Executive Director of NAEA agreed, saying,"It is important that the representative government reflects the desires of its constituents. This study's findings call for a reinstatement of funding for abstinence education within the next fiscal budget."
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About NAEA: The National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) is comprised of leading abstinence educators and supporters who represent 2 million children across the U.S.
For more information: http://www.theNAEA.org or www.AbstinenceWorks.org.
To schedule an interview with NAEA Executive Director Valerie Huber, please contact Lara Bailey at 214-460-4331 or lbailey@theNAEA.org.