Did you know that Maine rejected federal funding for "abstinence-only" programs?

In 2005, Gov. John Baldacci declined to accept federal funds that could have compromised comprehensive sex education in Maine. The state rejected federal abstinence-only funding in part because the federal guidelines prohibit recipients of the money from teaching comprehensive sex education, including contraceptive use. Maine's decision comes as more scientific studies show that abstinence-only programs are misleading and ineffective.  As Dr. Dora Anne Mills, the state's public health director, noted, the federal grant is "ideological money" and "more harmful than it is good."  She explained that research demonstrates that young people make the healthiest choices when they are given full information, including, but not limited to, abstinence.  

State officials said that accepting the money would force them to undermine a comprehensive teen sex education program that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has labeled one of the most successful in the nation. In the 1980s, one in 14 young women in Maine became pregnant. As of 2003, one in 27 young women became pregnant.  Significantly, Maine experienced the steepest decline in teen pregnancy in the nation since the implementation of its comprehensive sex education program.

Maine Right to Abstain From Funds With a Catch Requiring Schools to Teach Abstinence-Only Programs Would Undermine a Major State Success, Portland Press Herald, Sept. 21, 2005 at A12; Mark Peters, Maine Schools Shun $500,000 Sex-Ed Course; The Abstinence-Only Approach Doesn't Work, Many Public Officials Say, Portland Press Herald, Sept. 6, 2005 at A1; Paul Carrier, Maine Turns Down Sex-Ed Funds; Accepting the Federal Funds Would Bar Teaching About Contraception, Portland Press Herald, Sept. 20, 2005 at A1; Maine Schools Have the Right Approach on Sex Education; A Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Program Doesn't Work, Portland Press Herald, Sept. 11, 2005 at C4; Press Release, Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, Maine Becomes the 3rd State to Reject Federal Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding (Sept. 20, 2005).