Title: Concerns Over Abstinence-Only Education Programs: The Waxman Report

Author:

Section/SPIG: HIV/AIDS

Issue Date:

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On Dec. 1, 2004 (World AIDS Day), a report prepared for Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), entitled The Content of Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Education Programs (also referred to as The Waxman Report), was released criticizing abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula. The report cited examples where 11 out of 13 of the most commonly used abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula used fear and shame, blurred religion and science, perpetuated gender role stereotypes and contained medical misinformation. For example, one program reportedly teaches students that HIV/AIDS can be transmitted though tears and sweat; body fluids that have never been shown to transmit HIV. Many other curricula reportedly attempt to discourage young people from using condoms and other forms of contraception by distorting information about their efficacy. More than two-thirds of these programs/curricula were funded through Special Projects of Regional and National Significance-Community Based Abstinence Education (SPRANS-CBAE), which is the largest federal funding stream for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.

On Jan. 18, 2005, Rep. Waxman and 19 other members of Congress requested that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) review the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) processes for determining the accuracy and evaluating the effectiveness of "abstinence-only" education programs. In particular, the GAO was requested to "determine whether HHS has postponed releasing any information on its evaluation of 'abstinence-only' programs from 2004 to 2006" and "if this delay did occur, assess whether it was justified."

Currently, abstinence-only-until-marriage programs are slated to receive $167 million in federal funding during the 2005 fiscal year.


To read the entire report, click the PDF link below:

Related Files:
The_Waxman_Report.pdf