Abstinence education is on the anvil again. The ACLU and two condom-based sex-ed organizations are threatening to sue the Department of Health and Human Services if it doesn’t rescind federal grants to certain abstinence curricula. It could impact thousands of abstinence programs across the country.
In a letter to the HHS, the ACLU, Advocates for Youth and the SIECUS are demanding the HHS cut ties with three programs that they say provide incomplete and outdated information.
“Basically they’re fabricating stories about programs,” said Angela Griffiths, executive director of Await & Find. “They’re not even expressly stating what they’re against.”
Lesley Scearce, executive director of Why Know, said the challenge is based on an inaccurate and outdated report.
"The Santelli report is over a year old and has been refuted by medical experts, not to mention the fact that the report uses outdated information on Why Know." She said. "It’s no coincidence that the re-release of these claims comes during Congressional debate of abstinence funding."
Scearce said abstinence education would be of little interest to SIECUS and the ACLU if it were not working.
"Once again their agenda has overshadowed the facts," she said. "We need to keep our focus on the primary concern – the health and futures of our young people, not a political agenda."
Linda Klepacki, analyst for sexual health at Focus on the Family Action, said the opponents are throwing out undefined terms to discredit the abstinence movement.
“There is no way to have 'complete' information on health in a classroom setting,” she said. “You’d have to teach 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Jordan Lorence, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said the threat of a lawsuit rings hollow.
“Under federal court procedures, you can’t just march into court and say, ‘I think the federal government is spending money in the wrong way, and you, court, have to order them to stop doing that,’” he told Family News in Focus.
But if it’s a legal battle they want, Klepacki is glad to give it to them.
“They better be careful what they ask for,” she said. “Abstinence education is willing to be held accountable. Are they?”
