Wilson Plans to Expand ‘Just Say No’ Teen Sex Education

Armed with a bundle of federal welfare reform dollars, Gov. Pete Wilson wants to escalate the fight against teenage pregnancy in California by significantly expanding “abstinence-only” sex education programs.

Under the governor’s proposal, community youth organizations would get money for programs that encourage youngsters to say no to sex until marriage. Discussion of contraceptives would be forbidden.

The community projects would be in addition to sex education programs run by the public schools, which already must include discussion of abstinence as part of a wide-ranging curriculum that also deals with birth control.

The bare outline of Wilson’s proposal--launched without the fanfare that usually accompanies the governor’s prevention initiatives--is contained in a little-noticed section of his new state budget. Administration officials say it will be fleshed out in the next few months and could start Sept. 1, if the Legislature approves.

“No single program or approach is the magic bullet that is going to solve all the problems,” said Wilson spokeswoman Lisa Kalustian. “[But] abstinence is an absolutely valid message. It is a valuable tool.”

As envisioned, the proposal would be folded into a more comprehensive initiative Wilson launched two years ago to discourage pregnancy among teenagers and encourage responsible parenting.

In the budget, Wilson calls for spending $7.2 million in federal welfare reform money and $5.4 million in local public and private funds for the program this year. The state now spends about $200,000 a year on a couple of community-based abstinence-only sex education programs, officials said.

As part of federal welfare reform, conservatives in Congress set aside $250 million nationally over five years to be spent on abstinence-only education programs. Wilson applied for the money and it was approved last November.

Historically, pregnancy rates among unmarried California teenagers have been among the highest in the nation, although they have declined in the past few years.

*

In applying for the federal funds, the state Department of Health Services reported that one in three children in California is born to unmarried parents. Among teenage parents, the rate is two in three.

Administration officials, who will invite private and public organizations to bid for abstinence-only grants, foresee California teenagers receiving the instruction chiefly at after-school programs.

No state tax funds would be involved, but local organizations would be required to match the federal funds on a basis of $3 for every $4 sought. Administration officials said participating agencies may include local health departments, boys and girls clubs and church-sponsored organizations.

Jann Tabor, an administration spokeswoman on health and welfare issues, said the state would funnel the federal funds to local communities, but would not involve itself in designing the content of the programs. “Different communities have different needs and know how best to reach their people,” Tabor said.

The notion of instructing teenagers only in abstinence from sex until marriage--without discussion of contraceptive devices such as condoms--is controversial. Planned Parenthood of California, while taking a wait-and-see stance on Wilson’s proposal, has argued that abstinence-only education denies sexually active teenagers important information they may need to prevent diseases such as AIDS.

“Our position is that abstinence-only education does not work,” said Kristy Wiese, public affairs director for Planned Parenthood.

Wiese said studies have shown that by the time teenagers receive an abstinence-only message, most of them are already sexually active and “they need to know how to protect themselves.”

“It is kind of a moot point to tell kids not to do it, if they have done it and are doing it,” she said.

Planned Parenthood contends that the money would be better spent on after-school programs dealing with issues that put teenagers at risk of pregnancy. These include low self-esteem, use of drugs and alcohol and poor academic performance.

But in enacting its grant program, Congress attached stringent conditions. The federal law requires the funds to be spent exclusively for teaching the “social, psychological and health gains to be realized from abstaining from sexual activity.”

Instructors also must teach that a “mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity.”

Supporters contend that the congressional mandate will set a clear standard. They also say that over the years, teenagers have been sent a “mixed message.”

“We are not preaching dogma or doctrine. We are just saying the healthiest decision is an abstinence-until-marriage decision,” said Priscilla Hurley, who directs an abstinence-only program in Fullerton known as Choices-Teen Awareness.

Hurley said her program, which took its lessons to 13,000 middle and high school youngsters in Orange County last year, probably will apply for the proposed funds.

In her program, she said, youngsters receive information on making decisions, why and how to delay sex until marriage, sexually transmitted diseases, selecting friends for dates and setting boundaries for kissing and petting.

Students are taught, Hurley said, that “you can get close to a person through good communication and you really can get to know someone without physical intimacy.”

For Wilson, an advocate of abortion rights, this will be the second go-round with abstinence education.

*

In 1995, Wilson surprised educators when he stopped the funding for the Learn Now and Babies Later sex education program for 12- to 14-year-olds in 31 counties. The program stressed delaying sexual relations, but evaluators found its classroom lessons had virtually no lasting impact.

Wilson aides insist that his latest initiative will be far removed from the program he junked. “This is something different. [Learn Now] was not comprehensive. It didn’t have community support,” said Kalustian, Wilson’s spokeswoman.

She said Wilson’s new enterprise would become part of his comprehensive program, called Partnership for Responsible Parenting, which is spending nearly $46 million this year. Included are grants for local teenage pregnancy prevention efforts, mentoring and programs encouraging young fathers to be responsible parents.

In 1997, Wilson took an initial step toward creating abstinence-only programs but was rebuffed by the state Senate on grounds that his plan lacked detail.

Last month, Wilson breathed new life into the plan by including it in his budget and directing the Department of Health Services to draft a detailed proposal, including a requirement that its effectiveness be subject to an outside evaluation.