The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party

Abstinence-Only Sex Education

House Democrats Vote To Increase Funding Of Failed "Abstinence-Only" Program, Talk To Action, June 8, 2007

The Abstinence Gluttons, The Nation, from June 18 issue

The Abstinence-Only Delusion, New York Times, April 28, 2007

Conclusions Are Reported on Teaching of Abstinence, New York Times, April 14, 2007

Students who participated in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex as those who did not, according to a study ordered by Congress.

States refraining from abstinence-only sex education: Refuse to accept dictates made by White House, Boston Globe, April 9, 2007

Abstinence Absolutists: Report Says Religious Pressure Hurts Overseas AIDS Prevention, Wall of Separation, April 8, 2007

Lies We Teach Teenagers, TomPaine.com, March 21, 2007 -- on abstinence only sex education

"Abstinence-Only", Lysenkoism, & Soviet Man-Ape Breeding Programs, Talk To Action, December 28, 2006

Why the U.S. Has Not Stemmed HIV
Activists Blame Infection Rate, Unchanged Since 1990, on Policies and Funding, Washington Post, August 13, 2006

Abstinence-Only Stupidity, TomPaine.com, August 14, 2006

The Campaign for Abstinence Hits a Dead End on HPV, Slate, July 3, 2006

A disaster for abstinence ideology, Talk To Action, May 26, 2006

No, No, No ... Yes, Yes, YES! Abstinence Backfires, Counterpunch, May 10, 2006

Many Youths Disregard Their Virginity Pledges, Harvard Study Says, LA Times, May 7, 2006

STATE BANS ABSTINENCE PROGRAM, The Associated Press, March 28, 2006

Ding Ding Ding to Silver Ring Thing, Talk To Action, February 25, 2006 -- on government-funded Abstinence Only Sex Education

An Abstinence Only program loses it's funding, Philadelphia Inquirer, February 24, 2005

Religious groups cash in on AIDS, Talk To Action, January 30, 2006

Religious Groups Get Chunk of AIDS Money, Newsday.com, January 30, 2006

From Ghana: "Virginity Clubs" blame women for HIV, Talk To Action, January 24, 2006

Abstinence-only sex-ed is indefensible, Talk To Action, January 12, 2006 -- This article contains graphs that reveal the rise of STDs and teen pregnancies, particularly in the Bible belt

The abstinence gluttons, Talk To Action, December 20, 2005

Abstinence for Africa , Talk To Action, December 7, 2005

Broken Promises, TomPaine, December 01, 2005 -- Explains how U.S. international AIDS policy is hampering global efforts, due to its focus on abstinence-only.

States Abstain from Federal Sex Ed Money, Stateline.org, November 29, 2005

Maine Rejects Federal Sex-Education Funds All Things Considered, November 1, 2005

Maine becomes the third state to turn down federal funding for school-based sex education because new stricter rules mean the funds can be used only for programs that teach abstinence only. Pennsylvania and California have taken the same step.

Federal Funds For Abstinence Group Withheld, Washington Post, August 23, 2005

Louisiana Purchase: The Feds Recruit Culture War Cadets, The Nation, August 29, 2005

The Education of Shelby Knox: "A self-described "good Southern Baptist girl," 15-year-old Shelby Knox of Lubbock, Texas has pledged abstinence until marriage. But she becomes an unlikely advocate for comprehensive sex ed when she finds that Lubbock, where high schools teach abstinence as the only safe sex, has some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and STDs in the state." PBS. June 21, 2005

Abstinence-only education is one of the religious right's greatest challenges to the nation's sexual health. Planned Parenthood

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the US government over its funding of a nationwide sexual abstinence programme. BBC News, May 17, 2005

Study Challenges Abstinence as Crucial to AIDS Strategy, New York Times, February 23, 2005

Bush's Sex Scandal, New York Times, February 16, 2005

Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says, Washington Post, December 2, 2004

Through skillful lobbying and influence, the Religious Right has radically changed funding for sexuality education, shifting congressional and state subsidies to programs that do not provide vital health information. (From People for the American Way - a Comprehensive report.)

More Funding for Abstinence: From the KaiserNetwork.org, November 29, 2004

From the new abstinence-only sex education text Choosing The Best Soulmate

From the Nation, August 30 issue, 2004, "Sex, Lies and Politics"

The ascendancy of abstinence-only under Bush has not only altered funding priorities; it has sanctioned a climate of hostility toward sexual health professionals, who increasingly face harassment, intimidation and marginalization if they stray from the abstinence-only-unless-married line. For example, in the spring of 2003 a Tennessee teacher's thirty-year career nearly derailed after she commented on an abstinence video shown to her seventh-grade health class (her comments, presumably critical, were not made public). Charged with incompetence and insubordination, she was retrained and reassigned. Or take the Florida teacher who was suspended after his students used a banana to demonstrate how to put on a condom; he couldn't make the meeting where school officials fired him because his wife was in labor.

The New York Times, July 11, 2004 reported on the intimidation and censorship faced by sex research and education intstitutes.

James Wagoner, the president of Advocates for Youth as saying about sex education,"For 20 years, it was about health and science, and now we have a political ideological approach," he said. "Never have we experienced a climate of intimidation and censorship as we have today."

Sierra magazine, January-February, 2004, has a feature article on abstinence-only education in the public schools. Federally funded programs are based on fear and end up proselytizing. A Louisianna state judge has ruled that the proselytizing must stop or the programs risk defunding.

"For Louisianna seventh graders, abstinence-only education appears first and foremost to be about terrifying diseases: suppurating boils, endless rashes, sterility, cancers, and the physical and psychic morbidity with which they are to be punished for having sex before marriage."

"Hundreds of federally funded abstinence-only programs are run by faith-based groups. The Louisianna American Civil Liberties Union found that ... thousands of dollars went to programs that included prayers as well as continuous referrences to God, Jesus Christ, and the spiritual repercussions of sex before marriage."

Sex Education Texas Style, Boston Globe, November 11, 2004 by Ellen Goodman