On Jan. 28, more than 210 organizations, representing the diversity of American values, sent a letter to our elected leaders in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives requesting a full congressional inquiry into the misuse of our taxpayer dollars in federally funded programs that teach only abstinence-until-marriage to young people.

The letter was a response to a report released last year by Rep. Henry Waxman. The report was an important and eye-opening review of the content of abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula used by federal grantees through the U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services.

The report, “The Content of Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Education Programs,” found that many federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs teach adolescents false and misleading information about reproductive health. Furthermore, the report clearly shows that these abstinence-only programs are simply an attempt to advance a conservative social agenda masquerading as teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention.

The Waxman report found that 11 of the 13 “abstinence-only curricula contain errors and distortions.” Specifically, the report found that the curricula contain false and misleading information about the effectiveness of contraception and the risks of sexual activity.

The curricula also blur religion and science, treat stereotypes about girls and boys as scientific fact, and contain numerous scientific errors.

Examples of these false, misleading or distorted statements include: “Exposure to sweat and tears [are] risk factors to HIV transmission;” “[I]n heterosexual sex, condoms fail to prevent HIV approximately 31% of the time;” and “Women gauge their happiness and judge their success in their relationships. Men’s happiness and success hinge on their accomplishments.”

No sound study exists that shows abstinence-only-until-marriage programs have any long-term beneficial impact on young people’s sexual behavior. Research has shown that young people who take virginity pledges, an integral part of many abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, are 30 percent less likely to use contraception when they do become sexually active than their peers who have not pledged. That same body of research has also shown that pledgers have similar rates of sexually transmitted diseases as young people who do not pledge.

In contrast, numerous programs that provide comprehensive education about sexuality have been found to be effective in delaying the onset of sexual intercourse, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing the use of contraception and condoms among teens. Yet, the federal government has spent more than a billion dollars in unproven abstinence-only-until-marriage programs without investing a single dime in funding specifically for comprehensive sexuality education.

With the support of Maine’s Bureau of Health and the Department of Education, comprehensive sexuality education has been a part of our schools for more than 20 years. During that same period, Maine’s teen pregnancy rate has dropped more than 35 percent, the sharpest decline in the country, and since 1988, the percentage of females aged 15-19 seeking abortion services has dropped dramatically, more than 39 percent.

Maine now has the third-lowest teen pregnancy rate in the country. In a study led by the Centers for Disease Control, one of the critical factors associated with these remarkable declines was the improved and expanded teaching of comprehensive sexuality education in Maine schools.

Providing Maine youth full information in the classroom does not encourage the onset of sexual activity. In fact, over the past 10 years, Maine has witnessed an increase in the number of youth choosing abstinence. In 1991, 42 percent of high school students reported never having sexual intercourse, and last year this number increased to 57 percent. Equally important, 58 percent of high school students who had sexual intercourse reported using a condom compared to 41 percent in 1991.

Maine’s comprehensive approach to sexuality education works, and efforts to undermine this work should be stopped. This past year, an abstinence-only-until-marriage program in Maine received nearly a half a million dollars to work with Maine schools. This program does not meet Maine’s comprehensive health education requirements or the requirements of Maine’s Learning Results in the area of health, family life and the prevention and control of diseases.

Clearly, from a public health standpoint it would be negligent and potentially harmful to allow such programs in Maine schools and deny young people access to medically accurate information on how best to protect themselves from the various risks surrounding sexual activity.

Rep. Waxman should be applauded for releasing this important document that succinctly demonstrates to Mainers exactly what their tax money is being used for – programs that promote inaccurate, negative and potentially harmful messages to our nation’s young people. Congress should follow his lead and engage in a full congressional inquiry.

Sandra Lovell is the director of education for the Family Planning Association of Maine.