On October 30, 2014, the AHA join 20 groups in calling on House and Senate Appropriations Committees to strengthen funding for adolescent sexual health programs and eliminate harmful abstinence-only programs in next year’s budget.

Read the letter to the House and Senate below, or click here to read a PDF that includes a chart on discretionary funding from 2012 to present and footnotes.

The Honorable Barbara Mikulski
Chairwoman Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Richard Shelby
Ranking Member Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Harold Rogers
Chairman Committee on Appropriations
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Nita Lowey
Ranking Member Committee on Appropriations
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

October 30, 2014

Dear Chairwoman Mikulski, Chairman Rogers, and Ranking Members Shelby and Lowey:

On behalf of the 29 undersigned organizations, dedicated to the health and welfare of our nation’s youth, we write to request strengthened funding for adolescent sexual health promotion programs and the elimination of harmful abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in the final fiscal year (FY) 2015 funding.

We are appreciative of the continued federal investments to support adolescent sexual health promotion programs, but much still needs to be done to strengthen, enhance, and expand these efforts to ensure the health and well-being of our nation’s young people. The most recent data highlight the need for additional resources to serve young people most in need of sexual health education. U.S. teen pregnancy and birth rates are declining, but young people continue to face multiple systemic barriers and disparities persist. Nearly 80% of teen pregnancies are unplanned and the country continues to have the highest rate of teen births among comparable countries. Chlamydia and gonorrhea rates continue to be highest among young people under the age of 25 (60% and 70% of all reported cases respectively). Every month, 1,000 young people acquire HIV in the U.S. and account for one in four of the estimated 50,000 new HIV infections diagnosed each year, and while HIV infection rates remaining unchanged for adolescents, they are increasing among young adults and young black men who have sex with men.

Moreover, research has shown what works to promote adolescent health and well-being. Access to medically accurate and complete sexuality education and contraception helps teens delay having sex, use condoms and contraception when they do become sexually active, and reduces teen pregnancy, birth, and abortion. Programs that are inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and LBGTQ-related resources ultimately promote academic achievement and overall health.8 Equipping young people with sexual decision-making skills results in safer sex behaviors.

Additionally, promoting gender equity to counter traditional gender stereotypes reduces physical aggression with intimate partners and increases safer sex practices for all genders.

The requests for the final FY 2015 funding levels for the programs specified below reflect the modest increases included in the President’s budget. Recognizing the constraints upon the federal budget, we know that tough decisions are necessary and funding will not reflect the true needs of the young people these programs seek to serve.

We urge you to keep these needs and our previous requests, reflected in the chart included below, in mind as your focus quickly turns to FY 2016 appropriations. Providing robust funding for these programs will help equip young people with the resources they need to make responsible decisions vital not only to their health and well-being, but also to the overall health of our nation.

Support $105 million for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI) in FY 2015
TPPI grants are awarded to public and private entities by the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) for medically accurate and age appropriate teen pregnancy prevention programs that are replications of evidence-based programs, implementation of innovate strategies to test new models, or supporting communitywide demonstration programs, accompanied by rigorous evaluation. Support for TPPI funding would secure a new funding cycle in FY 2015.

Support $34 million for the Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) in FY 2015
DASH, known as “HIV School Health” within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) supports cooperative agreements with 19 state and territorial education agencies and 17 local education agencies, assisted by seven DASH-funded national organizations, to build school capacity to provide students with exemplary sexual health education, linkage to sexual health services, and support for safe and supportive environments for students and school staff. DASH also supports surveillance, research, and evaluation of youth behaviors and school health policies, practices, and programs. Support for DASH funding would continue these infrastructure investments and advance evaluation of school-based HIV prevention efforts.

Eliminate funding for the Competitive Abstinence Education (CAE) Grant Program in FY 2015
CAE grants, awarded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Family Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), support abstinence-only-until-marriage (AOUM) programs that withhold necessary and lifesaving information that allow young people to make informed and responsible decisions about their health. These programs ostracize and often denigrate LGBTQ youth, stigmatize youth who have been sexually abused, and deny information to sexually active young people. Rather than protecting and supporting young people, AOUM programs often reinforce gender stereotypes and squander opportunities for youth to become empowered to make healthy and responsible decisions about their sexual health. Eliminating the harmful CAE grant program would free-up much needed resources for more effective adolescent sexual health promotion investments.

Preventing unintended pregnancy and STIs, including HIV, not only furthers achievement toward our nation’s public health goals, it is also cost-effective. Were we to successfully prevent all of the nearly 20,000 annual new HIV infections among those under the age of 29, an astounding $6.8 billion would be saved in lifetime medical costs. Likewise, CDC estimates that for every dollar invested in school-based STI screening programs, such as those linked to by DASH, $1.67 in medical costs is saved. In these difficult economic times, we must make strategic investments in evidence-informed, effective, and inclusive programs such as TPPI and DASH.

Thank you for considering these requests. We look forward to working with you to ensure that our nation’s young people receive the information and tools they need to make responsible and healthy decisions.

Sincerely,

Advocates for Youth
AIDS Alliance for Women, Infants, Children, Youth & Families
The AIDS Institute
AIDS United
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American Humanist Association
Catholics for Choice
Center for Inquiry
Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC)
The Global Justice Institute Healthy Teen Network
Human Rights Campaign
Institute for Science and Human Values, Inc.
Methodist Federation for Social Action
Metropolitan Community Churches
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD)
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Coalition of STD Directors
National Council of Jewish Women
National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association
National Minority AIDS Council
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH) National Partnership for Women & Families
National Women’s Law Center
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Population Institute
Secular Coalition for America
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS)

cc:
Senate Appropriations Committee
House Appropriations Committee