Advocates for Youth Assails Inclusion of Ineffective Abstinence-Until-Marriage Policy in Global Aids Bill

5/1/2003

From: Bill Barker of the Advocates for Youth, 202-347-5700

WASHINGTON, May 1 -- Advocates for Youth's President, James Wagoner, today called the inclusion of Representative Joseph Pitts' (R-PA) abstinence-until-marriage amendment as part of the Global AIDS bill an unethical and dangerous approach to HIV/AIDS prevention.

"While I applaud Congress for providing unprecedented funds for AIDS treatment and care to fight global HIV/AIDS," said Wagoner, "this vote represents the triumph of ideology over public health and the promotion of ignorance in the era of AIDS."

The successful prevention methods in the model 'ABC' strategy - Abstinence, Be Faithful, and Condom use - allowed Uganda to experience significant reductions in HIV/AIDS prevalence rates during the 1990s. Research indicates that, among many other factors, delays in sexual debut, reductions in the number of sexual partners, and increases in condom use all played a part.

"Thirty years of good public health research demonstrates that the best way to promote abstinence is to provide young people with good sex education - education that includes information about delaying sex and medically accurate information about the health benefits of condoms," Wagoner added. "Abstinence does work. But abstinence-only-until programs do not."

"Abstinence-until-marriage programs are unproven and ineffective in America. These programs do not provide young people with information about the health benefits of using condoms for protection against a life-threatening disease. We should not be exporting this failed strategy."

"Reports indicate that condoms are 'highly effective' at preventing HIV transmission. The most respected science and medical institutions in the country are on record supporting condom for the prevention of HIV/AIDS. We must use every tool at our disposal to fight this disease," Wagoner concluded. "I call on the Senate to undo this dangerous misstep."

Advocates for Youth is a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization working in the field of sex education, teen pregnancy prevention, and HIV/AIDS education. Advocates for Youth has developed adolescent sexual health programs in the United States and in sub-Saharan Africa.

------ Note to Editors and Producers: For more information, or to set up an interview with international adolescent sexual health experts, please contact Bill Barker at 202-347-5700.