Congressional Hearing on Abstinence-Only Programs

Led by Chairman Henry Waxman, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform heard from three panels of witnesses--including leading medical and sexual health experts from across the country who testified on the ineffectiveness of the programs and youth speakers who testified to the program's ill effects on their lives and the lives of their peers. Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association; Dr. Margaret Blythe, Chair of the Committee on Adolescence, American Academy of Pediatrics; Dr. John Santelli, a leading sexual health researcher; Max Siegel, Policy Associate at AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families; and Shelby Knox, speaker and organizer Over 60 national, state, and local organizations submitted statements criticizing abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and calling for an end to federal funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Several Committee Members asked pointed questions of witnesses and stood up as champions of a real approach to sex education. Please thank the following Committee Members for championing efforts to end ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs: Chairman Henry Waxman, 202.225.3976 Representative John Sarbanes, 202.225.4016 Representative Peter Welch, 202.225.4115 Representative John Yarmuth, 202.225.5401 Representative Paul Hodes, 202.225.5206 Representative Betty McCollum, 202.225.6631 Representative Chris Shays, 202.225.5541 Representative Elijah Cummings, 202.225.5206 Representative Dennis Kucinich, 202.225.5871 Representative Diane Watson, 202.225.7084 For those that missed the hearing, you can view the video here: http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1910 You can read the testimony of those who testified as well as read Chairman Waxman's opening statement here: http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1888 The website RH Reality Check has been posting several points of view about the hearing. Here is the first part of my own optimistic assessment of the hearing in an entry this morning. It can be found at: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/04/30/hearings-highlight-ab-only-industry-in-peril And, finally, for a good laugh, the Daily Show did a piece on the hearing last night.