Contact Name
Barbara Dietsch
562-985-9488

Contact Email
bdietsc@WestEd.org

Peter C. Van Dyck, M.D., M.P.H.
Acting Associate Administrator for Maternal and Child Health
Health Resources and Services Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Section 510 of Title V

Section 510 of the Social Security Act, created under Section 912 of the 1996 Welfare Reform law, established a new categorical program of grants to States for abstinence education. Its purpose is to enable States to support abstinence education and, at the option of the State, where appropriate, mentoring, counseling, and adult supervision to promote abstinence from sexual activity with a focus on those groups most likely to bear children out-of-wedlock. The law provides for a mandatory annual appropriation of $50 million for each fiscal year (FY) 1998 through 2002. Grants are awarded to the States based on a statutory formula determined by the proportion that the number of low income children in the State bears to the total number of low income children for all States. Grant applications are accepted only from the State health agency responsible for the administration (or supervision of the administration) of the Title V Maternal and Child Health Service Block Grant, with funds dispersed at the discretion of the Governor unless otherwise established under State law or judicial precedent. There is a required match of three non-federal dollars for every four Federal dollars awarded. If a State chooses not to apply for a grant, the State's allocation is returned to the Treasury and is not available for redistribution among the remaining States.

Abstinence Education Definition

Abstinence education is defined in the law as an educational or motivational program which:

has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity;

teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for all school age children;

teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems;

teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity;

teaches that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects;

teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child's parents, and society;

teaches young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increases vulnerability to sexual advances; and

teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity.

Four National performance measures are specified:

Lowering the pregnancy rate for teenagers aged 15-17;

Reducing the percent of adolescents 17 years and younger who have engaged in sexual intercourse;

Reducing the incidence of youths aged 15-19 who have contracted one of the sexually transmitted diseases (i.e., gonorrhea, syphilis, or chlamydia); and

Lowering the rate of births to female teenagers aged 15-17.

In addition, States are required to develop two State performance measures related to their identified priority needs. States report on their progress toward meeting the National and State performance measures in Annual Reports they submit to the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).

Program application guidance is disseminated annually by MCHB. This guidance provides direction to the State maternal and child health agencies on how to apply for the appropriated Abstinence Education Grant Funding. States are responsible for developing programs that best meet their unique priority needs.

Both public and private organizations can provide services under the program. Abstinence Education Grant Program dollars can be used to create a completely new program in abstinence education or to augment any existing program as long as it does not contradict the statutory definition of abstinence education. The required non-Federal matching funds must be in accordance with the guidance and may be State dollars, local dollars, private or foundation dollars, or in-kind support.

The 54 applications submitted by the States/Territories for FY 1998 included multiple strategies to promote abstinence education, particularly among adolescents. The majority (41) of the States and Territories targeted 13-14 year olds as their first priority. Other frequently targeted age groups were 9-12 year olds (39 States/Territories) and 15-17 year olds (36 States/Territories). Many States targeted more than one age group. Development of a public media campaign was proposed in 33 States. Other programmatic themes included public education campaigns (23 States), mentoring (21 States), curriculum development (18 States), and during- and after-school classes (14 and 13 States respectively). In addition, 29 States proposed an evaluation component. Contracts were primarily awarded by States to community groups (29 States) and schools or school districts (29 States), followed closely by city or county health departments (27 States).

National Evaluation

A separate National evaluation of programs under Section 510 of Title V was mandated and funded by Section 5001 of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. This three-year evaluation will be conducted under a contract awarded in August 1998, by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

(Excerpts from Dr. Peter Van Dyck's testimony before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, Committee on Commerce, U.S. House of Representatives, September 25, 1998.)