[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3774 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3774

     To amend title V of the Social Security Act to eliminate the 
       abstinence-only education program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 16, 2013

     Ms. Lee of California (for herself, Mr. Moran, Ms. Moore, Ms. 
 Schakowsky, Mrs. Capps, and Mr. Farr) introduced the following bill; 
  which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in 
    addition to the Committee on Appropriations, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend title V of the Social Security Act to eliminate the 
       abstinence-only education program, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Repealing Ineffective and Incomplete 
Abstinence-Only Program Funding Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The United States has the highest rate of teen 
        pregnancy among its peers in the developed world. In 2012, 
        3,952,937 babies were born to teenagers aged 15 to 19 years. 
        From 2007 to 2011, the birth rates among African-American and 
        Hispanic teens were more than two times higher than the rate 
        for White teens. From 2011 to 2012, both the number of births 
        and the fertility rate for Asian or Pacific Islander women 
        rose, by 7 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
            (2) While young people in the United States ages 15 to 24 
        make up only 25 percent of the sexually active population, they 
        acquire about 50 percent of the 19,700,000 new sexually 
        transmitted infections (STIs) every year. The Centers for 
        Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the rate of 
        chlamydia diagnoses among persons ages 15-24 in 2011 was four 
        times higher than the general population. According to the CDC, 
        young people ages 13 to 24 account for 25 percent of the 
        estimated 50,000 new HIV infections each year; every month 
        1,000 teenagers or young adults are infected with HIV. African-
        American adolescents ages 13 to 19 years are disproportionately 
        affected by HIV, accounting for only 15 percent of the 
        adolescent population, but comprising 67 percent of the 
        estimated HIV diagnoses in 2011. Since 2008, new HIV cases 
        specifically among young Black men who have sex with men (MSM) 
        ages 13 to 24 have increased by 20 percent.
            (3) Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs have been 
        discredited by a wide body of evidence, including most notably 
        in a congressionally mandated study in 2007 which found these 
        programs ineffective in stopping or delaying teen sex, reducing 
        the number of reported sexual partners, reducing reported rates 
        of pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections, or otherwise 
        beneficially impacting young people's sexual behavior. The 
        Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences 
        recommends the termination of such programs because they 
        represent poor fiscal and public health policy.
            (4) Programs funded through title V, section 510 of the 
        Social Security Act are required to adhere to a stigmatizing, 
        shaming, and stereotyping eight-point definition of 
        ``abstinence education.'' This definition promotes marriage as 
        the only acceptable family structure; ostracizes lesbian, gay, 
        bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth; stigmatizes youth who 
        have been sexually abused; and denies information to sexually 
        active youth.
            (5) Over 100 leading medical and public health professional 
        groups, including the American Medical Association, the 
        American Academy of Pediatrics, the Society of Adolescent 
        Health and Medicine, the American College of Obstetricians and 
        Gynecologists, the American Nurses Association, the American 
        Public Health Association, and the American Psychological 
        Association, oppose an abstinence-only-until-marriage approach 
        as antithetical to the principles of science. These 
        organizations all stress the need for sexuality education that 
        includes messages about abstinence and also provide young 
        people with information about contraception for the prevention 
        of teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other STIs. Additionally, 
        every United States Surgeon General from Dr. Koop to Dr. 
        Carmona has supported comprehensive sex education. CDC includes 
        teen pregnancy prevention as one of its top six priorities, a 
        ``winnable battle'' in public health, noting needed support for 
        evidence-based prevention programs.
            (6) Since 1982, the United States has spent over 
        $1,750,000,000 in Federal funding on abstinence-only-until-
        marriage programs that fail to teach teens how to prevent 
        unintended pregnancy or STIs, including HIV. Particularly as 
        the Nation continues recovery efforts from the worst economic 
        disaster since the Great Depression, government funding should 
        only support evidence-informed programs.
            (7) According to the results of a 2005-2006 nationally 
        representative survey of United States adults published in the 
        Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, more than 8 in 10 
        (82 percent) of those polled, regardless of political ideology, 
        support comprehensive sex education that is medically accurate 
        and age-appropriate and includes information about both 
        abstinence and contraception for protection against unintended 
        pregnancy and STIs, including HIV.
            (8) There is strong evidence that more comprehensive 
        approaches to sex education help young people both to withstand 
        the pressures to have sex too soon and to have healthy, 
        responsible, and mutually protective relationships when they do 
        become sexually active. More comprehensive sex education has 
        been found to be effective in delaying sexual intercourse, 
        increasing contraceptive use, and reducing the number of 
        partners among teens.
            (9) Strong evidence indicates that sex education programs 
        that promote both abstinence and the use of contraception does 
        not increase sexual behavior. Studies show that when teens are 
        educated about and have access to contraception, levels of 
        contraception use at first intercourse increase while levels of 
        sex stay the same.
            (10) Teens who receive sex education that includes both 
        abstinence and contraception are more likely than those who 
        receive abstinence-only-until-marriage messages to delay sexual 
        activity and use contraception when they do become sexually 
        active. Research from the United States shows that teens who 
        practice contraception consistently in their first sexual 
        relationship are more likely to continue doing so than those 
        who use no method or who use a method inconsistently.
            (11) The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) 
        funds programs that are required to provide medically accurate 
        information on both abstinence and contraception for the 
        prevention of pregnancy and STIs, including HIV/AIDS, with a 
        substantial emphasis on both abstinence and contraceptive use. 
        Programs must also address adulthood preparation topics such as 
        healthy relationships, adolescent development, financial 
        literacy, educational and career success, and healthy life 
        skills. Funded programs are required to be evidence-based or 
        replicate elements of evidence-based programs that have been 
        proven on the basis of rigorous scientific research to change 
        behavior.

SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Title V of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 701 
et seq.) is amended by striking section 510.
    (b) Rescission.--Amounts appropriated for fiscal year 2014 under 
section 510(d) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 710(d)) (as in 
effect on the day before the date of enactment of this Act) that are 
unobligated as of the date of enactment of this Act are rescinded.

SEC. 4. REPROGRAMMING OF ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION PROGRAM.

    Section 513(f) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 713(f)) is 
amended by striking ``for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014'' and 
inserting ``for fiscal year 2014, increased by an amount equal to the 
unobligated portion of funds appropriated for fiscal year 2014 under 
section 510(d) that are rescinded under subsection (b)''.
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