January 21, 2004

New York, NY— Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) today denounced President Bush’s demand for doubled funding for abstinence-only education programs. The president made the request in his State of the Union address.

“This ideologically based move exposes the emptiness of President Bush’s claim to care about our children’s health,” said Susanne Martinez, PPFA vice president for public policy. “If he really wanted to protect teens, he would fund the kind of comprehensive, age-appropriate and medically accurate sexual health education that is proven to reduce rates of sexually transmitted infection, unintended pregnancy and abortion. The only thing that will decrease with more abstinence-only education is the safety of our teens.”

Studies have shown that abstinence-only education does not work. But medically accurate, age-appropriate sexual health education, such as that provided by Planned Parenthood affiliates around the country, does help teens stay safer and make more responsible decisions. Notwithstanding the evidence, this administration continues to pour funding into flawed abstinence-only programs to satisfy its own narrow ideological agenda, while at the same time cutting desperately needed funds for family planning programs and sex ed that are proven effective. Information that is wrong, too little, or too late can have devastating consequences, and that is why PPFA will continue to provide the kind of comprehensive sexual health education that a majority of American parents want their children to receive.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the nation's largest and most trusted voluntary family planning organization. We believe that everyone has the right to choose when or whether to have a child - and that every child should be wanted and loved. Planned Parenthood affiliates operate nearly 900 health centers nationwide, providing medical services and sexuality education for millions of women, men, and teenagers each year - regardless of race, age, sexuality, disability or income.