This week SIECUS released the sixth edition of our SIECUS State Profiles: A Portrait of Sexuality Education and Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in the States.  Since the beginning, we were clear with our readers that this is not a publication to be read from beginning to end.  The current edition covering Fiscal Year 2008, for example, spans more than 700 pages replete with graphs and notes and a profile on every state in the country.  To that extent, SIECUS State Profiles is a reference volume and is the most complete resource of its kind.  We are pleased that over the years, it has served us, our advocacy colleagues, and policymakers in advancing a mission that recognizes that young people have a right to full and comprehensive information if we as a society expect them to make good and responsible decisions about sex. 

And make no mistake - this year's edition documents the progress that has been made over the years and couches it within the larger and more favorable environment we are in.  First, let it not go unsaid that we have now, for the first time in history, a President in the White House who supports age appropriate, medically accurate sex education for America's school-aged youth.  It's a far cry from the unfulfilled plea to double funding for failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs offered by President Bush in his 2004 State of the Union Address to Congress.  What a difference an election makes.  And while we await the details of how President Obama will lead on this issue, we and others are already calling for an unequivocal end to federal money to the failed abstinence-only-until-marriage industry and a significant investment in a proven, more comprehensive approach to sex education. 

Taking such a step nationally would be recognition of the national paradigm shift away from abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and toward comprehensive sex education.  Our research this year shows that there are now seven states that are completely free of any federal abstinence-only-until-marriage money.  The list is not made up of bastions of leftist thinking, as some might expect.  The current list of seven states includes Delaware, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wyoming.  Up from just four states the year prior and only one the year prior to that, we continue to see a rejection of the failed and extremist proposition that expects much from young people while providing them with only a fraction of the information they need.   

Our research also shows that nearly half of the states continue to reject federal abstinence-only-until-marriage money they are eligible to receive under the Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage program.  Twenty-three states from Alaska (I'll spare all of us yet another Palin crack) to Maine are telling the federal government that taking funding for failed and extreme programs is anathema to the responsibility of government to its citizens and they need money for more comprehensive programs that actually have evidence behind them.  If science is back, abstinence-only-until-marriage is out and the states are speaking that language in spades.  That nearly every state in the Union finds itself in a severe financial crisis and could use money - any money - also speaks volumes about leaving this particular tainted federal money on the table. 

We did focus on a few specific trends this year though to highlight where additional attention ought to be paid.  First, our research shows that despite the complete rejection of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs on the grounds of evidence showing they are a failure and the total rebuke they garner from every major public health entity in this country, nearly 50 hospitals and health departments are recipients of federal abstinence-only-until-marriage dollars.  We know that in many cases, it was the lure of easy money that led these entities down this path, but they are betraying the public trust and it is time for them to side with the public health rationale and end participation in the failed abstinence-only-until-marriage experiment. 

We also looked this year at where abstinence-only-until-marriage funding is trending geographically given the collapse in support for the failed industry.  Not surprisingly, the south, which can least afford failed programming given its high teen pregnancy rates and other less than admirable adolescent health indicators, now consumes nearly half of all federal abstinence-only-until-marriage money.  Almost $82 million was funneled into sixteen southern states in 2008.  One colleague from Mississippi summed this up well for me:  "We're a poor state, we'll take any money we can get." 

Also new this year, we included three new profiles covering Puerto Rico, the U.S Virgin Islands and the U.S. Outer Territories.  Puerto Rico is in the midst of its own HIV/AIDS crisis so it was bit shocking to learn that more than $3 million goes into the island.  One grantee operating in 25 of San Juan's schools uses some of the worst abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula available. 

The newest edition of SIECUS State Profiles represents progress made, but also much work yet to be done.  However, our hope is that the end of federal abstinence-only-until-marriage funding and investment in comprehensive sex education can help remake the sex education landscape across the country and in turn, turn the State Profiles into a new type of publication in the years ahead.  In the meantime, we hope it continues to be a foundational resource for advocates everywhere engaged in the good fight.