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in support of free expression
The information presented here by the National
Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) may be freely redistributed in its entirety,
provided that readers are informed that the information was obtained from
NCAC's World Wide Web site and that credit is given to the appropriate source
of whatever information is used. Permission is expressly granted for the information
obtained to be made available for file transfer from installations offering
unrestricted anonymous file transfer on the Internet. Information found here
may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial documents without
the written permission from the National Coalition Against Censorship.
©Copyright 2005 NCAC
WEB DESIGN
Jeanne Criscola Criscola Design
free speech first amendment censorship
YFEN
Focal Issues
Absitinence-Only Sex Education
In 1981, Congress passed the Adolescent Family Life Act, also known as the "chastity law," which funded educational programs to "promote self-discipline and other prudent approaches" to adolescent sex. Grant applications to create such programs poured in, and the dollars poured out — to churches and religious conservatives nationwide.
A dozen years later, the U.S. Supreme Court held that funded programs must delete direct references to religion (for instance, the suggestion that students take Christ on a date as chaperone), and the granting process was reined in. But it was too late. Some of the biggest federal grant recipients, including Sex Respect and Teen-Aid, had already turned their curricula into robust for-profit businesses.
In 1996, Congress established a federal program to fund programs teaching abstinence-until-marriage exclusively. Approximately $100 million, including matching state funds, is spent annually on state programs that have as their "exclusive purpose, teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity."
Ramifications are steep:
-- Textbooks are censored. The school board in Franklin County, North Carolina, ordered three chapters literally sliced out of a ninth-grade health textbook because the material did not adhere to state law mandating abstinence-only education. The chapters covered AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, marriage and partnering, and contraception. (2000)
-- In Belton, Missouri, a seventh grade health teacher was suspended when a parent complained that she had discussed "inappropriate" sexual matters in class. The teacher had answered a student's query about oral sex. (1998)
In 2005, Representative Henry Waxman requested a report on federally funded abstinence-only programs. During that fiscal year, Congress gave about $170 million to these programs. The report found that "over 80% of the abstinence-only curricula, used by over two-thirds of grantees in 2003, contained false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health."(For the full report visit reform.democrats.house.gov)
Today schools are blocking student access to sexual information in class, at the school library, and through the public library's Internet portals. They violate students' free speech rights by censoring student publications of articles referring to sexuality. In abstinence-only classes, instructors force-feed students religious ideology that condemns homosexuality, masturbation, abortion, and sometimes even contraception.
There are a number of First Amendment concerns with abstinence-only sexuality education.
-- it’s censorship, when literally slicing out passages of health books
-- it affronts the principle of church-state separation
-- also silences speech about sexual orientation.
For more information on NCAC's website, visit Sex Education
and our joint statement Sex and Censorship.
Also make sure to check out our action/issues Youth page to see what recent censorship incidents are happening around the country.
Links to Sex Education Information
* Advocates for Youth, www.advocatesforyouth.org, is "dedicated to creating programs and advocating for policies that help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. Advocates provides information, training, and strategic assistance to youth-serving organizations, policy makers, youth activists, and the media in the United States and the developing world."
*Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, www.GLSEN.org, is "the leading national organization fighting to end anti-gay bias in K-12 schools. It combats the harassment and discrimination leveled against students and school personnel by creating learning environments that affirm the inherent dignity of all students, and, in so doing, teaches students to respect and accept all of their classmates-- regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression."
*NYCLU Teen Health Initiative, www.nyclu.org/thi, was founded to help New York State kids and teens obtain vital information about their rights to healthcare, including comprehensive reproductive healthcare.
* Planned Parenthood, for news articles, resources, and free advice and legal assistance about your right to public health information, visit this abstinence-only report by Planned Parentood at their website www.plannedparenthood.org.
* For Rep. Henry Waxman's 2005 Report: The Content of Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Education Programs visit reform.democrats.house.gov.
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