Tracking Trends: Abstinence Education

Abstract:
This issue brief describes states’ responses to the 1996 federal welfare reform package, which includes $50 million per year over five years to implement education programs emphasizing sexual abstinence until marriage. There is great variability among states on use of the money; some are spreading the word through TV and billboard advertising, while others are developing comprehensive school or community-based education programs. The issue brief describes conflicts over strategies within California and New Hampshire, and it outlines recent mandates in Mississippi and South Carolina. In all, 19 states and the District of Columbia require that schools provide sexuality education. Regardless of whether sexuality education itself is mandated, 11 states require that sex education courses teach abstinence but do not require the inclusion of contraceptive information, while 13 states require that sex education courses teach both abstinence and contraceptive information. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia require schools to provide HIV/AIDS/STD education. The issue brief is a concise, helpful overview of some approaches to the federal abstinence-education money.

Author(s): Sidwell, Heather

Publication: State Health Notes (a publication of the Forum for State Health Policy Leadership)


Date Published: 12/4/1998

Pages: 1

Location Code: 6330