TAKE ACTION: Tell HHS to Stop Funding Abstinence-Only Sex Education

In April, the Department of Health and Human Services added Heritage Keepers Abstinence Education, an abstinence-only education program, to its list of evidence-based pregnancy prevention programs that receive government funding. This decision was based upon unpublished, unreliable, and biased research conducted at Brigham Young University.

Studies typically go unpublished because critical review would shine light on bias or skewed data. This study did not include the conflicts of interest disclosure required by most journals to publish research. This is likely because there is a clear conflict of interest for researchers at BYU, where the university honor code requires students and faculty “live a chaste and virtuous life.” This bias leads researches to draw conclusions based on their existing belief. 

The testing procedure calls the reliability of this study into question. Instead of randomly deciding which students would receive the abstinence-only education, researchers purposefully selected which students would participate in the abstinence-only program. Intentional selection allows researchers to fill the abstinence-only education group with students already more likely to abstain from sexual activity and then attribute their abstinence to the program. Additionally, only past studies by the lead researcher are cited when describing the reliability and validity of the testing measures. 

Government officials should rely on high quality research, not studies tainted by religious belief, when making health care and education policy decisions.

Please tell the Department of Health and Human Services to remove the Heritage Keepers Abstinence Education program from its list of evidence-based pregnancy prevention programs that receive government funding until they are supported by published, unbiased, reliable research. 

Thank you for all of your support.