II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 578 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 15, 2011 

Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BEGICH, 

Mr. WYDEN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. KERRY, and Mrs. MURRAY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

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’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress makes the following findings: 


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

2 teen pregnancy rates in the developed world. Be3 tween 1990 and 2005, the United States teenage 

4 pregnancy rate declined 41 percent. For the first 

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

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

7 information about contraception in schools and their 

8 use of contraceptives was declining. 

9 (2) While young people in the United States 

aged 15 to 25 make up only 1 10 ⁄4 of the sexually active 

population, they contract about 1 11 ⁄2 of the 19,000,000 

12 sexually transmitted infections (STIs) which occur 

13 annually. Young people ages 13 to 29 account for 

nearly 1 14 ⁄3 of the estimated 56,300 new HIV infec15 tions each year. Every hour, 1 young person is in16 fected with HIV. In 2008, the Centers for Disease 

17 Control and Prevention estimated that 1 in 4 young 

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

19 in 2 African-American young women are infected 

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

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

22 have been discredited by a wide body of evidence, in23 cluding most recently in a congressionally mandated 

24 study in 2007 which found these programs ineffec25 tive in stopping or delaying teen sex, reducing the 


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1 number of reported sexual partners, reducing re2 ported rates of pregnancy or sexually transmitted in3 fections, or otherwise beneficially impacting young 

4 people’s sexual behavior. The Institute of Medicine 

5 of the National Academy of Sciences recommends 

6 the termination of such programs because they rep7 resent ‘‘poor fiscal and public health policy.’’ 

8 (4) Leading medical and public health profes9 sional groups, including the American Medical Asso10 ciation, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the So11 ciety of Adolescent Health and Medicine, the Amer12 ican College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the 

13 American Nurses Association, the American Public 

14 Health Association, and the American Psychological 

15 Association, oppose an abstinence-only-until-mar16 riage approach as antithetical to the principles of 

17 science. These organizations all stress the need for 

18 sexuality education that includes messages about ab19 stinence and also provide young people with informa20 tion about contraception for the prevention of teen 

21 pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other STIs. 

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

23 over $1,500,000,000 in Federal funding on absti24 nence-only-until-marriage programs that fail to 

25 teach teens how to prevent unintended pregnancy or 


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1 STIs, including HIV. Particularly during the Na2 tion’s worst economic disaster since the Great De3 pression, government funding should only support 

4 evidence-based programs. 

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

6 nationally representative survey of United States 

7 adults published in the Archives of Pediatric & Ado8 lescent Medicine, more than 8 in 10 (82 percent) of 

9 those polled, regardless of political ideology, support 

10 comprehensive sex education that is medically accu11 rate and age-appropriate and includes information 

12 about both abstinence and contraception for protec13 tion against unintended pregnancy and STIs, includ14 ing HIV. 

15 (7) There is strong evidence that more com16 prehensive approaches to sex education help young 

17 people both to withstand the pressures to have sex 

18 too soon and to have healthy, responsible, and mutu19 ally protective relationships when they do become 

20 sexually active. More comprehensive sex education 

21 has been found to be effective in delaying sexual 

22 intercourse, increasing contraceptive use, and reduc23 ing the number of partners among teens. 

24 (8) Strong evidence indicates that sex education 

25 programs that promote both abstinence and the use 


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1 of contraception does not increase sexual behavior. 

2 Studies show that when teens are educated about 

3 and have access to contraception, levels of contracep4 tion use at first intercourse increase while levels of 

5 sex stay the same. 

6 (9) Teens who receive sex education that in7 cludes both abstinence and contraception are more 

8 likely than those who receive abstinence-only-until9 marriage messages to delay sexual activity and use 

10 contraception when they do become sexually active. 

11 Research from the United States shows that teens 

12 who practice contraception consistently in their first 

13 sexual relationship are more likely to continue doing 

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

15 method inconsistently. 

16 (10) The Personal Responsibility Education 

17 Program (PREP) funds programs that are required 

18 to provide information on both abstinence and con19 traception for the prevention of pregnancy and STIs, 

20 including HIV/AIDS, with a substantial emphasis on 

21 both abstinence and contraceptive use. Programs 

22 must also address adulthood preparation topics such 

23 as healthy relationships, adolescent development, fi24 nancial literacy, educational and career success, and 

25 healthy life skills. Funded programs are required to 


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1 be evidence-based or replicate elements of evidence2 based programs that have been proven on the basis 

3 of rigorous scientific research to change behavior. 

4 SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION 

5 PROGRAM. 

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

7 (42 U.S.C. 701 et seq.) is amended by striking section 

8 510. 

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

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

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

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

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

14 rescinded. 

15 (c) REPROGRAM OF ELIMINATED ABSTINENCE-ONLY

16 FUNDS FOR THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY EDUCATION

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

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

19 of fiscal years 2010 through 2014’’ and inserting ‘‘for fis20 cal year 2010, $75,000,000 increased by an amount equal 

21 to the unobligated portion of funds appropriated for each 

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

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

24 each of fiscal years 2012 through 2014’’. 

Æ 


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