FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- April 23, 2008

Washington, DC – Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, called Congress’ first-ever oversight hearing on Bush’s “abstinence-only” policy a victory for common sense and public health as experts called the policy ineffective, even though these programs have received hundreds of millions of tax dollars.

The hearing, called by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, comes on the heels of a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that at least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted infection.

"What a difference pro-choice leadership in Congress – and a fantastic class of pro-choice freshmen – makes. In today’s hearing we saw expert after expert testify that ‘abstinence-only’ programs simply don’t work. President Bush and his anti-choice allies in Congress have spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on this failed and discredited policy,” Keenan said.

Under pointed and bipartisan questioning from Chairman Waxman and several other committee members – such as Reps. Paul Hodes (D-NH), Peter Welch (D-VT), Chris Shays (R-CT), and John Sarbanes (D-MD) – even anti-choice witnesses conceded that “abstinence-only” programs should be medically accurate (presently, many are not) and should be held to the same standard as other public-health education programs. Even anti-choice Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) admitted several times during the hearing that some “abstinence-only” programs do not work.

The American Public Health Association and the Institute of Medicine testified that objective scientific studies have not found that abstinence-only classes cut teen-pregnancy rates, sexually transmitted disease rates, or the age when sexual activity begins.

Keenan also said that, to date, at least 17 states, including Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, and Virginia, have found the “abstinence-only” programs so ineffective that they simply refuse to participate. NARAL Pro-Choice America will launch an email campaign tomorrow to mobilize activists across the country to contact their representatives and urge them to stop funding risky and discredited “abstinence-only” programs.

Testimony submitted by Keenan to the committee may be found at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/naral-testimony-for-abstinence-only-oversight-hearing-408.pdf.

Contact: Ted Miller or Kathryn Prael, 202.973.3032

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