October 12, 2005

Mr. Claude Allen

Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. Allen:

I have become aware that a recent conference about
abstinence-only-until-marriage education, you made inaccurate statements
about the 4parents.gov website run by the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS). You claimed that all Congressional concerns about the
accuracy and appropriateness of the website had been addressed. In fact,
I have never received a response to a letter I sent on July 13, 2005, to
Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael O. Leavitt outlining
serious concerns of several national experts in adolescent health. I
urge you to review the attached materials and ensure that the Department
responds promptly.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched the
4parents.gov website in March of 2005 as a resource to "equip parents to
talk with their teens about sex and relationships while encouraging them
to remain abstinent from unhealthy behaviors."[^1] After members of the
public health community raised concerns about the website, I asked four
leading experts in the health fields addressed by 4parents.gov to review
the website. The reviewers, experts in the fields of infectious disease,
adolescent sexuality, reproductive health, and adolescent development,
found that the site did not accurately reflect the scientific consensus
on multiple key issues in adolescent health.[^2] Among their
observations, they found:

-   **4parents.gov provides inaccurate information on sexually
    transmitted diseases.** According to the experts, the website
    understates the effectiveness of condoms, provides wrong information
    about HIV and other sexually transmitted disease, misstates the
    relative risks of different types of sexual behaviors, and
    inappropriately relies on *Seventeen* magazine for scientific
    information.

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-   **4parents.gov conveys a message on contraception that is likely to
    backfire**. According to the experts, the website's virtually
    exclusive focus on instructing parents to tell their teenagers to be
    abstinent will leave youth more likely to have unprotected sex. One
    expert stated that the website "virtually abandons parents whose
    children are sexually active, providing them with no guidance in
    helping their children understand how to reduce their risks."[^3]

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-   **4parents.gov uses inappropriate language on issues such as
    sexual-orientation and single-parenting.** One expert criticized the
    website's reference to homosexuality as a "lifestyle" and failure to
    address the harmful effects of stigma and harassment against
    homosexual adolescents.[^4] Another expert noted that the website's
    "not-so-subtle suggestion that divorce and single parenthood are
    responsible for the nation's social ills will alienate many
    potential users of the site, a large proportion of whom are
    themselves single parents with adolescent children."[^5]

In a July 13 letter, I brought these concerns to Secretary Leavitt's
attention. The experts' review of the 4parents website was also covered
widely in the press.[^6] Soon after I sent the letter, Senator Arlen
Specter added language to the report on the appropriations bill for HHS
urging that the 4parents.gov website be reviewed by public health and
scientific experts.[^7]

On August 5, 2005, you discussed 4parents.gov at the "International
Abstinence Leadership Conference," an annual conference of over one
thousand abstinence-only-until-marriage educators.[^8] In your plenary
address, you acknowledged that HHS had received a numbers of concerns
about the information presented on the 4parents.gov website, including
from "members of Congress." You then stated: "We've gone back to them
about it \[and\] made it very clear that while they might have a
disagreement with that information, it is based on fact, based on
science, based on research."[^9]

In fact, since sending the letter, I have received no response.

You also mischaracterized the process by which the 4parents.gov website
was created. You stated that "the people at HHS ... worked hard at
creating these resources, consulted a variety of data, scientific
research, as well as medical and health experts, to ensure that the
information provided was accurate and up to date."[^10] This portrayal
of the website is inaccurate. In fact, the content in the website was
not created by government scientists, but rather through a no-bid
contract to the National Physician's Center for Family Resources, an
obscure organization that has taken positions against scientific
agencies on important matters of public health.[^11]

In my letter to Secretary Leavitt, I asked him how the contract came to
be awarded to an organization with questionable credentials,
particularly without a bidding process. I also asked what, if any, peer
review had been conducted by government scientists or outside experts.
These are important questions that deserve answers.

I am enclosing my letter to Secretary Leavitt, as well as the four
experts' full reviews of the website. I ask that you ensure a response
is sent by October 28, 2005.

Sincerely,

Henry A. Waxman

Ranking Minority Member

Enclosure

[^1]: Department of Health and Human Services*, HHS Announces
    Communication Tools To Help Parents Talk To Their Teens About
    Abstinence* (Mar. 25, 2005) (online at
    www.hhs.gov/news/press/2005pres/20050325.html).

[^2]: Letter from Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Minority Member, Committee on
    Government Reform to Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary, Department of
    Health and Human Services (July 13, 2005) (online at:
    democrats.reform.house.gov/story.asp?ID=888).

[^3]: Letter from John Santelli, M.D., M.P.H. to Henry A. Waxman,
    Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House
    of Representatives (May 1, 2005).

[^4]: Letter from Richard R. Pleak, M.D. to Henry A. Waxman, Ranking
    Minority Member, Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of
    Representatives (June 7, 2005).

[^5]: Letter from Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D. to Henry A. Waxman, Ranking
    Minority Member, Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of
    Representatives (May 2, 2005).

[^6]: *E.g.,* *Panel Finds Misinformation in White House Web Site on
    Teenagers,* Washington Post (July 14, 2005); *Website Gives Parents
    Biased Advice, Lawmaker Charges,* USA Today (July 14, 2005).

[^7]: *Health Website Faces Scrutiny*, Los Angeles Times (July 16,
    2005).

[^8]: Remarks by Claude Allen at the International Abstinence Leadership
    Conference, *All the President's Men: Domestic Policy* (Aug. 5,
    2005).

[^9]: *Id.*

[^10]: *Id.*

[^11]: Letter to Secretary Leavitt, *supra* note 2.