11/03/2005

Abstinence Educators Call for GAO Investigation of Government Spending on Comprehensive Sex Education

GLENVIEW, Ill., Nov. 3 /Christian Wire Service/ -- In the midst of a national Abstinence Education Evaluation Conference being sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services this week, abstinence educators are calling for an investigation of the questionable content and ethical concerns with comprehensive sex education programs being supported with government money. Rather than allowing abstinence educators to follow the conference agenda, an organization called Housing Works sabotaged this morning's session with a 10-minute demonstration attacking abstinence education and Claude Allen, the deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, to the point that security needed to be called to restore order. In addition, it has been revealed that individuals representing the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) and other nationally known abstinence education opponents, are present at the meeting.

Prior to the start of the conference attendees had been informed that SIECUS and other abstinence opponents might launch an attack on this conference in an attempt to deflect attention away from questionable and unethical studies on comprehensive sex education programs. One such study is on the Focus on Kids program that evaluated children as young as age nine on condom use. However, it was never made public that SIECUS would have representation at the conference. Representatives from Project Reality are present at the conference and able to report first-hand information about the current happenings.

SIECUS and the CDC have a record of recommending curricula with extremely graphic content such as the use of grocery items like grape jelly being used as lubricants (Becoming a Responsible Teen), condom relay races, condom practice and fantasizing during classroom time, a homework assignment to go shopping for condoms, and how-to instructions for oral sex (Becoming a Responsible Teen, Be Proud! Be Responsible!, Get Real About AIDS). Focus on Kids, a curriculum for 9-15-year-olds, assigns teens to create a list of ways to be close to a person without having intercourse, including, "body massage, bathing together, masturbation, sensuous feeding, fantasizing, watching erotic movies, reading erotic books and magazines."

"The content of these programs and exposing children as young as age nine to studies on sexual practices calls into question who authorized and recommended these programs in the first place," stated Libby Gray Macke, director of Project Reality. "Once again, SIECUS and other comprehensive sex ed advocates prefer to attack successful programs rather than have the content of their own recommended programs exposed. We hope that the GAO will investigate these programs to ensure that children are not exposed to these dangerous programs."

Abstinence opponents like SIECUS claim that abstinence programs have not been proven successful despite the many studies that support abstinence education across the country, including Northwestern University Medical School's high-quality evaluations on Project Reality's programs. Both the Game Plan evaluation and Navigator initial results have indicated that survey data presents clear and convincing evidence that adolescents who participated in an abstinence education program shifted their attitudes towards a stronger belief in the value of abstinence and a greater commitment to practice abstinence until marriage. In addition, it shows that the abstinence message can reach youth who are already sexually active. For example, in the Game Plan evaluation post-test, 83% of teens agreed/strongly agreed that a person who has been sexually active is able to choose abstinence for the future vs. the pre-test figure of 48%. The Navigator initial results were almost identical with 83% post-test vs. 45% pre-test. In addition, numbers dramatically increased in both evaluations when asked if abstinence is a healthy choice. Game Plan results showed an increase from 57% pre-test to 87% post-test in the agree/strongly agree category and Navigator results increased from 54% pre-test to 82% post-test respectively. Visit http://projectreality.org/reality/teachers/index.php?id=38 to see evaluation results.

Project Reality, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, has been a pioneer in the national field of adolescent health education since 1985. Funded in part by grants from the Illinois Department of Human Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Project Reality specializes in the development, teaching and evaluation of abstinence programs in the public schools. Project Reality serves middle and high school students, youth groups and parents with their abstinence and character education programs such as Game Plan, Navigator, I Can Do That! and Parent Power. During the 2004- 2005 school year, more than 100,000 students in approximately 525 schools throughout the state of Illinois were served through Project Reality programs and 20,000 additional students will be served during the 2005-2006 school year in the District of Columbia, Florida and New Mexico.