CHICAGO - Protecting the health and safety of teenagers across Illinois should take priority over ideologically based, dangerous abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education programs. This message is at the center of a letter sent today by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois to more than thirteen hundred school superintendents across the state. The Illinois effort is part of a nationwide action, titled "Not In My State," aimed at combating dangerous abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula. As part of the campaign, ACLU affiliates across the country sent letters to local officials calling for careful scrutiny of health and life-skills curricula.

"Educators in our state must take responsibility for the accuracy and content of the curricula taught in their classrooms," said Lorie Chaiten, Director of the Reproductive Rights Project at the ACLU of Illinois. "Unfortunately, too many educators have ignored mounting evidence that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs are dangerous and inaccurate. They have instituted these programs in their classrooms, sadly, because ideologically-based politicians in Washington have tied billions of dollars in curricula aid on sex education to teaching these inaccurate and dangerous programs."

According to a recent report prepared by a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, many abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula used by federally funded programs contain false and misleading information and perpetuate harmful stereotypes. Perhaps most alarmingly, these curricula misrepresent the effectiveness of contraceptives by vastly understating the value of condoms at protecting against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and preventing unintended pregnancy. Such misinformation is particularly alarming given that each year in the United States, nearly 9.1 million 15-24 year olds are infected with an STD and more than 800,000 15-19 year olds become pregnant.

ACLU Affiliates in 17 other states known to have problematic curricula also sent letters to local officials responsible for school curricula asking them to keep unsafe programs out of the classroom to protect the health of young people throughout their state. The letters encourage the officials to select health and life-skills curricula that present medically accurate, age-appropriate, and unbiased information about sex and sexuality.

The letter from the ACLU of Illinois notes that "(n)one of us wants students misled in the classroom - particularly when bad information can have lifelong consequences. Yet records indicate that sex education programs in Illinois teach some of the most problematic abstinence-only curricula." The ACLU of Illinois calls on superintendents receiving the letter to "confirm that health and life-skills curricula in your district present medically accurate, age-appropriate, unbiased information about sex and sexuality."

Since 1997, the federal government has poured nearly a billion dollars into abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that deny teenagers the information they need to prevent pregnancy and the spread of STDs. In addition, many of these programs promote gender stereotypes, discriminate against gay and lesbian youth and all too often proselytize on the public's dime.

Recent studies show that most abstinence-only programs do not prevent teens from having sex before marriage and that many actually deter teens who become sexually active from using condoms and getting tested and treated for STDs when they start having sex.

On the other hand, evidence shows that teaching teens the importance of abstinence as well as the importance of effective contraceptive use helps teens delay sex and increases condom use among sexually active teens. Currently, no federal program is dedicated to supporting this commonsense approach to sexuality education, the ACLU noted.

A copy o f the ACLU of Illinois letter is available at http://www.aclu-il.org/news/archives/rrpschools.pdf.