ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH

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IOM Says Abstinence-Until-Marriage Earmark Hinders Global HIV Prevention Efforts

Urges Congress to Eliminate all PEPFAR Earmarks

Washington, D.C. (March 30, 2007) Today, the Institute of Medicine, the nation’s leading medical authority, released a report calling on Congress to remove the harmful abstinence-until-marriage earmark from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Stating that PEPFAR’s rigidity hurts successful program implementation, the IOM concluded that, “[PEPFAR’s] budget allocations have made spending money in a particular way an end in itself rather than a means to an end – in this instance, the vitally important end of saving lives today and in the future.”

"The abstinence-until-marriage earmark acts as like a political straightjacket,” said James Wagoner, President of Advocates for Youth. “Abstinence-only education has not worked in the United States and this report confirms that mandating its use abroad was a bad decision. “Without drastic changes to PEPFAR, this Administration’s political blind spot will continue to hinder on the ground efforts to prevent HIV and AIDS.”

PEPFAR currently requires that at least 33 percent of HIV prevention funding be used exclusively for programs that promote abstinence-until-marriage as the only way to stop the spread of HIV. PEPFAR also limits programs directed at young people from promoting condom use as a prevention method. Worldwide, teens and young adults account for more than half of all new HIV infections and more than one-third of those living with AIDS. Every day, more than 6,000 young people become infected.

The IOM report is hardly the first time the Administration’s earmark has come into question. A year ago, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report detailing the shortcomings of the abstinence-only-until-marriage earmark. Additionally, the Society for Adolescent Medicine (SAM), in one of the most exhaustive reviews to date of government-funded abstinence-only programs, rejected Administration policy that promotes abstinence as the only sexual health prevention strategy for young people. On the topic of PEPFAR, SAM’s report stated “Human rights groups find that U.S. government policy has become a source for misinformation and censorship in these countries. U.S. emphasis on abstinence may also have reduced condom availability and access to accurate information on HIV/AIDS in some countries.”

Earlier this week, Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Christopher Shays (R-CT) introduced the Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth (PATHWAY) Act of 2007 (H.R. 1713), a bill that would remove the abstinence-until-marriage funding earmark from PEPFAR. The findings of the IOM report confirm the urgency of this critical piece of legislation.

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Advocates for Youth is a national, nonprofit organization that creates programs and supports policies that help young people make safe, responsible decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.

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