Government funding of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs is not new. In fact, the federal government has poured tax-payer money into such programs for over a.

It's about time we make the well-being of our young people more important than ideology and politics. As a country, we benefit from investing in their future by investing in teen pregnancy prevention. Our youth deserve the opportunity to complete their high school and college education, free of early parenthood. Their future children deserve the opportunity to grow up in financially and emotionally stable homes. Our communities benefit from healthy, productive, well-prepared young people. We can make a difference by advocating for effective sex education.

Amcharts Javascript License Key here. The Title V funding for abstinence-only programs is up for reauthorization by Congress. Since 1982, the US government has allocated to abstinence only-until-marriage programs and has received a dismal return on its investment. And not surprisingly--these programs have very little evidence of effectiveness. Conducted a national evaluation of abstinence-only programs and its findings show abstinence-only programs have no beneficial impact on whether young people abstain from sex, delay sexual activity, or reduce the number of sexual partners. This lack of evidence demands we take a different approach to sexual health education. The US has the highest teen birth rate of all industrialized nations at per 1,000 girls age 15-19.

By comparison, the next closest country is the United Kingdom at 26.7 per 1,000. In my home state of Georgia, the state government has received $22.4 million in Federal funding for abstinence-only programs over the last two years. Georgia's spending on abstinence-only programs is two times the amount of funds just approved by the state legislature for funding teen centers, which provide critical services including prevention education, counseling, and services for sexually active youth. Serial Of Hide My Ip. Georgia ranks in teen birth rates at 54.2 per 1,000 girls age 15-19.

Werner Attic Ladder S2208 Manual there. Georgia is 2nd in repeat pregnancies, 6th in Chlamydia, 5th in Gonorrhea, 3rd in Syphilis and 9th in AIDS cases. All tolled, abstinence-only education, as a program to safeguard young people from high-risk behavior that leads to unintended outcomes, has failed miserably. The persistent status of Georgia among the top 10 worst states for reproductive and sexual health outcomes in teens illustrates the shortcomings of a policy that insists on teaching abstinence-only until marriage as the core sex education strategy.

In 1995, when Georgia had the highest teen pregnancy rate in the US, I founded The Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (). G-CAPP brings together community and school leaders, health officials, and students to advocate for age appropriate, evidence-based sex education curricula within local schools and federal policy to fund comprehensive sex education programs.