I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3774 
To amend title V of the Social Security Act to eliminate the abstinence- 
only education program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 16, 2013 
Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Mr. MORAN, Ms. MOORE, Ms. SCHA-
KOWSKY, Mrs. CAPPS, and Mr. FARR) 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 de-
termined 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, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Repealing Ineffective 
and Incomplete Abstinence-Only Program Funding Act of 
2013’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
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(1) The United States has the highest rate of 
teen pregnancy among its peers in the developed 
world. In 2012, 3,952,937 babies were born to teen-
agers aged 15 to 19 years. From 2007 to 2011, the 
birth rates among African-American and Hispanic 
teens were more than two times higher than the rate 
for White teens. From 2011 to 2012, both the num-
ber of births and the fertility rate for Asian or Pa-
cific Islander women rose, by 7 percent and 4 per-
cent, respectively. 
(2) While young people in the United States 
ages 15 to 24 make up only 25 percent of the sexu-
ally active population, they acquire about 50 percent 
of the 19,700,000 new sexually transmitted infec-
tions (STIs) every year. The Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the 
rate of chlamydia diagnoses among persons ages 15– 
24 in 2011 was four times higher than the general 
population. According to the CDC, young people 
ages 13 to 24 account for 25 percent of the esti-
mated 50,000 new HIV infections each year; every 
month 1,000 teenagers or young adults are infected 
with HIV. African-American adolescents ages 13 to 
19 years are disproportionately affected by HIV, ac-
counting for only 15 percent of the adolescent popu-
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lation, but comprising 67 percent of the estimated 
HIV diagnoses in 2011. Since 2008, new HIV cases 
specifically among young Black men who have sex 
with men (MSM) ages 13 to 24 have increased by 
20 percent. 
(3) 
Abstinence-only-until-marriage 
programs 
have been discredited by a wide body of evidence, in-
cluding most notably in a congressionally mandated 
study in 2007 which found these programs ineffec-
tive in stopping or delaying teen sex, reducing the 
number of reported sexual partners, reducing re-
ported rates of pregnancy or sexually transmitted in-
fections, or otherwise beneficially impacting young 
people’s sexual behavior. The Institute of Medicine 
of the National Academy of Sciences recommends 
the termination of such programs because they rep-
resent poor fiscal and public health policy. 
(4) Programs funded through title V, section 
510 of the Social Security Act are required to ad-
here to a stigmatizing, shaming, and stereotyping 
eight-point definition of ‘‘abstinence education.’’ 
This definition promotes marriage as the only ac-
ceptable family structure; ostracizes lesbian, gay, bi-
sexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth; stigmatizes 
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youth who have been sexually abused; and denies in-
formation to sexually active youth. 
(5) Over 100 leading medical and public health 
professional groups, including the American Medical 
Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, 
the Society of Adolescent Health and Medicine, the 
American College of Obstetricians and Gyne-
cologists, the American Nurses Association, the 
American Public Health Association, and the Amer-
ican Psychological Association, oppose an absti-
nence-only-until-marriage approach as antithetical to 
the principles of science. These organizations all 
stress the need for sexuality education that includes 
messages about abstinence and also provide young 
people with information about contraception for the 
prevention of teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other 
STIs. Additionally, every United States Surgeon 
General from Dr. Koop to Dr. Carmona has sup-
ported comprehensive sex education. CDC includes 
teen pregnancy prevention as one of its top six prior-
ities, a ‘‘winnable battle’’ in public health, noting 
needed support for evidence-based prevention pro-
grams. 
(6) Since 1982, the United States has spent 
over $1,750,000,000 in Federal funding on absti-
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nence-only-until-marriage programs that fail to 
teach teens how to prevent unintended pregnancy or 
STIs, including HIV. Particularly as the Nation con-
tinues recovery efforts from the worst economic dis-
aster since the Great Depression, government fund-
ing should only support evidence-informed programs. 
(7) According to the results of a 2005–2006 
nationally representative survey of United States 
adults published in the Archives of Pediatric & Ado-
lescent Medicine, more than 8 in 10 (82 percent) of 
those polled, regardless of political ideology, support 
comprehensive sex education that is medically accu-
rate and age-appropriate and includes information 
about both abstinence and contraception for protec-
tion against unintended pregnancy and STIs, includ-
ing HIV. 
(8) There is strong evidence that more com-
prehensive approaches to sex education help young 
people both to withstand the pressures to have sex 
too soon and to have healthy, responsible, and mutu-
ally protective relationships when they do become 
sexually active. More comprehensive sex education 
has been found to be effective in delaying sexual 
intercourse, increasing contraceptive use, and reduc-
ing the number of partners among teens. 
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(9) Strong evidence indicates that sex education 
programs that promote both abstinence and the use 
of contraception does not increase sexual behavior. 
Studies show that when teens are educated about 
and have access to contraception, levels of contracep-
tion use at first intercourse increase while levels of 
sex stay the same. 
(10) Teens who receive sex education that in-
cludes both abstinence and contraception are more 
likely than those who receive abstinence-only-until- 
marriage messages to delay sexual activity and use 
contraception when they do become sexually active. 
Research from the United States shows that teens 
who practice contraception consistently in their first 
sexual relationship are more likely to continue doing 
so than those who use no method or who use a 
method inconsistently. 
(11) The Personal Responsibility Education 
Program (PREP) funds programs that are required 
to provide medically accurate information on both 
abstinence and contraception for the prevention of 
pregnancy and STIs, including HIV/AIDS, with a 
substantial emphasis on both abstinence and contra-
ceptive use. Programs must also address adulthood 
preparation topics such as healthy relationships, ad-
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olescent development, financial literacy, educational 
and career success, and healthy life skills. Funded 
programs are required to be evidence-based or rep-
licate elements of evidence-based programs that have 
been proven on the basis of rigorous scientific re-
search to change behavior. 
SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION 
PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 701 et seq.) is amended by striking section 
510. 
(b) RESCISSION.—Amounts appropriated for fiscal 
year 2014 under section 510(d) of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 710(d)) (as in effect on the day before the date 
of enactment of this Act) that are unobligated as of the 
date of enactment of this Act are rescinded. 
SEC. 4. REPROGRAMMING OF ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDU-
CATION PROGRAM. 
Section 513(f) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
713(f)) is amended by striking ‘‘for each of fiscal years 
2010 through 2014’’ and inserting ‘‘for fiscal year 2014, 
increased by an amount equal to the unobligated portion 
of funds appropriated for fiscal year 2014 under section 
510(d) that are rescinded under subsection (b)’’. 
Æ 
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