Mississippi was awarded $2,053,630 towards TPP, HIV, and STI protection. For
ABO/SRAE, they were awarded $2,227,103. The primary areas that provided the funds for TPP,
HIV, and STI protection came from DASH, TPPP, and PREP.
Dash is the Divison of Adolescent and School Health. Dash is a source of support for
HIV, STD, and unintended pregnancy prevention efforts in schools. DASH works to
protect/improve the health of youth by. They collect and analyze data from schools that helps
drive this goal.
TPPP is the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. It is a nation wide program that funds
organizations working to prevent teen pregnancy across the United States. It is an evidence based
program.
PREP is the Personal Responsibility Education Program. The goal of the organization is
to help guide the transition from youth to adulthood by promoting healthy decisions and
accurate sexual education to MN teenagers.
The primary areass that provided the funds for ABO/SRAE include the Title V State
Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE). The SRAE objective is to “implement education
exclusively on sexual risk avoidance that teaches youth to voluntarily refrain from sexual
activity.” The second area is the General-Departmental Funded Sexual Risk Avoidance
Education (GD SRAE) Program. The goal of the GD SRAE is the same as the SRAE program
and also to competitively fund projects which adhere to SRAE criteria. The third area is Title V
Competitive Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE). The goals are once again the same as
the SRAE and also to competitively fund projects which adhere to SRAE criteria.
Siecus-Stop funding ABO described the various reasons and included a study done on
why ABO programs need to stop getting money. The goal of the article is obviously to persuade
and is biased towards a side, however, it includes a study and evidence to make a case as to why
ABO funding is ineffective and should stop. The primary finding that caught my attention was,
“for each dollar per student spent on abstinence-only funding within conservative states, there
was actually an increase in the number of babies born to adolescent mothers within that state.”
Now, while there are multiple different factors that lead to young pregnancies, it is a main
indicator that the education in ABO programs is not effective in teaching teens how to protect
themselves and create safe sex habits. Teenagers are not people that are easily pursuaded. If you
tell them not to do something, they are likely going to do it anyways. The ABO form of sex
education is not going to teach them how to be safe and to take care of their bodies. It is more a
scare tactic than anything and is not effective.
At a national level, to address defunding ABO programs, I would first compile a list of
data including multiple different things. How much money is given to ABO programs, which
states are primarily ABO, teen pregnancy rates in these states, etc. The data found in the study
addressed multiple different points on how ABO is ineffective. Using that data and creating a
persuasive argument would be how I address defunding ABO.