Abstinence Education Assessment LackingBy ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006 01 53 PM
(11-16) 13:53 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --
Most no-sex-before-marriage programs escape the type of scientific scrutiny
required to show if they work, a government watchdog said Thursday in a
report on the federally funded abstinence education efforts.
Also, the materials used by the programs face limited review for scientific
accuracy, the Government Accountability Office said. The abstinence programs
receive about $158 million a year in public money from the Health and Human
Services Department.
-snip-The Administration for Families and Children, part of Health and Human Services,
does not review for scientific accuracy the materials used in the abstinence
programs it funds, the GAO found. It awards grants to two programs that
account for the largest portion of abstinence funding.
-snip-"It is increasingly clear that the Administration for Children and Families'
strategy is to bury their heads in the sand and simply throw money at
organizations that favor the social issue agenda of the Bush administration,"
said William Smith, vice president for public policy at the Sexuality
Information and Education Council of the United States, which promotes
sexuality education.
-snip-