I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1085 

To amend title V of the Social Security Act to eliminate the abstinenceonly education program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 15, 2011 

Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. FARR, 

Mr. FILNER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HOLT, Mr. JACKSON

of Illinois, Mrs. LOWEY, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. MOORE, 

Mr. MORAN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. OLVER, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. STARK, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. HONDA, Mrs. 

CHRISTENSEN, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. 

NADLER, and Mr. CONYERS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 

the Committee on Appropriations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend title V of the Social Security Act to eliminate 

the abstinence-only education program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Repealing Ineffective 

5 and Incomplete Abstinence-Only Program Funding Act of 

6 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) The United States has one of the highest 

4 teen pregnancy rates in the developed world. Be5 tween 1990 and 2005, the United States teenage 

6 pregnancy rate declined 41 percent. For the first 

7 time in more than a decade, the rate rose 3 percent 

8 in 2006. At the same time, teens were receiving less 

9 information about contraception in schools and their 

10 use of contraceptives was declining. 

11 (2) While young people in the United States 

aged 15 to 25 make up only 1 12 ⁄4 of the sexually active 

population, they contract about 1 13 ⁄2 of the 19,000,000 

14 sexually transmitted infections (STIs) which occur 

15 annually. Young people ages 13 to 29 account for 

nearly 1 16 ⁄3 of the estimated 56,300 new HIV infec17 tions each year. Every hour, 1 young person is in18 fected with HIV. In 2008, the Centers for Disease 

19 Control and Prevention estimated that 1 in 4 young 

20 women between the ages of 14 and 19 and nearly 1 

21 in 2 African-American young women are infected 

22 with at least one of the four most common STIs. 

23 (3) Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs 

24 have been discredited by a wide body of evidence, in25 cluding most recently in a congressionally mandated 

26 study in 2007 which found these programs ineffecVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:02 Mar 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1085.IH H1085

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1 tive in stopping or delaying teen sex, reducing the 

2 number of reported sexual partners, reducing re3 ported rates of pregnancy or sexually transmitted in4 fections, or otherwise beneficially impacting young 

5 people’s sexual behavior. The Institute of Medicine 

6 of the National Academy of Sciences recommends 

7 the termination of such programs because they rep8 resent ‘‘poor fiscal and public health policy’’. 

9 (4) Leading medical and public health profes10 sional groups, including the American Medical Asso11 ciation, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the So12 ciety of Adolescent Health and Medicine, the Amer13 ican College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the 

14 American Nurses Association, the American Public 

15 Health Association, and the American Psychological 

16 Association, oppose an abstinence-only-until-mar17 riage approach as antithetical to the principles of 

18 science. These organizations all stress the need for 

19 sexuality education that includes messages about ab20 stinence and also provide young people with informa21 tion about contraception for the prevention of teen 

22 pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other STIs. 

23 (5) Since 1996, the United States has spent 

24 over $1,500,000,000 in Federal funding on absti25 nence-only-until-marriage programs that fail to 


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1 teach teens how to prevent unintended pregnancy or 

2 STIs, including HIV. Particularly during the Na3 tion’s worst economic disaster since the Great De4 pression, government funding should only support 

5 evidence-based programs. 

6 (6) According to the results of a 2005–2006 

7 nationally representative survey of United States 

8 adults published in the Archives of Pediatric & Ado9 lescent Medicine, more than 8 in 10 (82 percent) of 

10 those polled, regardless of political ideology, support 

11 comprehensive sex education that is medically accu12 rate and age-appropriate and includes information 

13 about both abstinence and contraception for protec14 tion against unintended pregnancy and STIs, includ15 ing HIV. 

16 (7) There is strong evidence that more com17 prehensive approaches to sex education help young 

18 people both to withstand the pressures to have sex 

19 too soon and to have healthy, responsible, and mutu20 ally protective relationships when they do become 

21 sexually active. More comprehensive sex education 

22 has been found to be effective in delaying sexual 

23 intercourse, increasing contraceptive use, and reduc24 ing the number of partners among teens. 


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1 (8) Strong evidence indicates that sex education 

2 programs that promote both abstinence and the use 

3 of contraception does not increase sexual behavior. 

4 Studies show that when teens are educated about 

5 and have access to contraception, levels of contracep6 tion use at first intercourse increase while levels of 

7 sex stay the same. 

8 (9) Teens who receive sex education that in9 cludes both abstinence and contraception are more 

10 likely than those who receive abstinence-only-until11 marriage messages to delay sexual activity and use 

12 contraception when they do become sexually active. 

13 Research from the United States shows that teens 

14 who practice contraception consistently in their first 

15 sexual relationship are more likely to continue doing 

16 so than those who use no method or who use a 

17 method inconsistently. 

18 (10) The Personal Responsibility Education 

19 Program (PREP) funds programs that are required 

20 to provide information on both abstinence and con21 traception for the prevention of pregnancy and STIs, 

22 including HIV/AIDS, with a substantial emphasis on 

23 both abstinence and contraceptive use. Programs 

24 must also address adulthood preparation topics such 

25 as healthy relationships, adolescent development, fiVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:51 Mar 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1085.IH H1085

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1 nancial literacy, educational and career success, and 

2 healthy life skills. Funded programs are required to 

3 be evidence-based or replicate elements of evidence4 based programs that have been proven on the basis 

5 of rigorous scientific research to change behavior. 

6 SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION 

7 PROGRAM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Social Security Act 

9 (42 U.S.C. 701 et seq.) is amended by striking section 

10 510. 

11 (b) RESCISSION.—Amounts appropriated for each of 

12 fiscal years 2010 and 2011 under section 510(d) of the 

13 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 710(d)) (as in effect on 

14 the day before the date of enactment of this Act) that are 

15 unobligated as of the date of enactment of this Act are 

16 rescinded. 

17 (c) REPROGRAM OF ELIMINATED ABSTINENCE-ONLY

18 FUNDS FOR THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY EDUCATION

19 PROGRAM (PREP).—Section 513(f) of the Social Security 

20 Act (42 U.S.C. 713(f)) is amended by striking ‘‘for each 

21 of fiscal years 2010 through 2014’’ and inserting ‘‘for fis22 cal year 2010, $75,000,000 increased by an amount equal 

23 to the unobligated portion of funds appropriated for each 

24 of fiscal years 2010 and 2011 under section 510(d) that 


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1 are rescinded under subsection (b), and $125,000,000 for 

2 each of fiscal years 2012 through 2014’’. 

Æ 


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