SIECUS Releases the Fiscal Year 2006 Edition of the SIECUS State Profiles
The Fiscal Year 2006 edition of the SIECUS State Profiles is now available in hard copy and on-line at www.siecus.org.
The State Profiles include individual profiles of every state and the District of Columbia that are intended to serve as a guide and major resource for advocates, policymakers, and other interested parties. This fourth edition includes information from federal Fiscal Year 2006, which began on October 1, 2005 and ended on September 30, 2006, and tracks approximately $176 million in federal funding to abstinence-only-until-marriage grantees.
The State Profiles were compiled through extensive research, monitoring, and tracking of state and local developments around comprehensive sexuality education; conversations with state health officials and state advocates; and the solicitation of state records on federal abstinence-only-until-marriage grantees. Our analysis for this edition looks at trends in the movement towards comprehensive sexuality education and, similarly, developments in the abstinence-only-until-marriage movement.
The State Profiles follows abstinence-only-until-marriage funding from its origin at the federal government to its destination in the hands of abstinence-only-until-marriage grantees in order to paint a picture of how the funding is dispensed among the states and grantees and how recipients use it to support their abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. In addition, to shed light on the ideology behind abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, the State Profiles includes information on the nature and philosophies of grantees.
Highlights and trends from this edition of the State Profiles include:
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Websites of federal grantees include numerous examples of misinformation, bias, and messages of fear and shame promoted by grantees.
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The 2007 legislative session represented more wins in statehouses for comprehensive sexuality education than the previous session including wins in Colorado, Iowa, and Washington State.
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A handful of states experienced legislative rollbacks including Missouri (weakening of a good comprehensive sexuality education law) and Utah (new requirements for students involved in Gay-Straight Alliances and other LGBTQ clubs).
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Texas received over $17 million in Fiscal Year 2006 for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs—the highest amount of funding in any one state.
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New York and Florida received approximately $10 million each—the second highest amounts of funding.
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Vermont received the least amount of funding at approximately $66,000.
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Approximately $20 million went directly to anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) in 30 states.
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Kentucky dedicates the majority of its $3 million in abstinence-only-until-marriage funding to CPCs, a larger percentage of federal funding than any other state.
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Catholic-based organizations and Catholic medical centers represent a large chunk of the money directed to faith-based organizations with over $10 million in federal funding going to 37 entities in 17 states.
SIECUS encourages colleague organizations and supporters of sexuality education to use these State Profiles in advocacy efforts geared toward legislators, policymakers, opinion leaders, and the media on the national, state, and local levels. It is our hope that each State Profile willempower individuals and organizations to expand or develop their own advocacy efforts related to comprehensive sexuality education and prevention programs. Together, we can and must create policies that support the best programs for our young people.
To view the SIECUS State Profiles on-line, please visit www.siecus.org.
For more information on expanding or developing state and local advocacy efforts around comprehensive sexuality education, or to obtain a hard copy of the profiles, please contact Jennifer Aulwes, State Policy Coordinator, at jaulwes@siecus.org or 202-265-2405.
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