BEIJING, April 24 -- Programs teaching school children to abstain from sex have not reduced teen pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases or delayed the age at which sex begins, health groups told U.S. Congress as reported by media reports Thursday.
However, U.S. government voiced continuing support for such programs during a hearing before a House of Representatives panel even as many Democrats called for cutting off federal money for so-called abstinence-only instruction.
"Vast sums of federal monies continue to be directed toward these programs. And, in fact, there is evidence to suggest that some of these programs are even harmful and have negative consequences by not providing adequate information for those teens who do become sexually active," Dr. Margaret Blythe of the American Academy of Pediatrics told the committee.
These programs, backed by many social conservatives who oppose the teaching of contraception methods to teenagers in schools, have received about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in federal funds since the late 1990s.
Currently, 17 of the 50 U.S. states refuse to accept federal funds for such programs. Experts from the American Public Health Association and U.S. Institute of Medicine testified that scientific studies have not found that abstinence-only teaching works to cut pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases or the age when sexual activity begins.
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