The Cost of Virginity in the United States
Does the Funding of Abstinence Education Put a Price on Virginity?
Feb 11, 2009
The United States federal and state governments' funding of abstinence only education could be interpreted as placing monetary value on the virginity of young girls. Billions of dollars have been spent by government institutions to protect young women's virginities. If such a large investment has been made into preserving the virginity of America’s young women then it could logically follow that their sexuality has a monetary value.
In 2008, $50 million was set aside for states willing to teach only abstinence in the classroom. The Title V program, begun in 1996, requires states to provide $3 for every $4 the federal government provides. But many states have chosen not to accept the funding because they do not believe the program is working. As a result, only $21 million has been distributed to states. This is one of three abstinence only education programs federally funded.
The funds are distributed by theMaternal and Child Health Bureau. They keep records of how much federal money is allocated to the state, the total state funds and how the funding was used. Missouri can be used as an example to see how the funding is invested because they are a Midwest state with abstinence only education programs. Educators from safe sex organizations, like Planned Parenthood, are not allowed into the classrooms by order of the state legislature.
Missouri’s federal-state Title V Block Grant had a total budget of $23,447,312 in 2007. Thirty-nine percent of that funding ($9,166,234) was used for population-based services. This is not limited to abstinence only education. Population-based services also include, “Disease prevention, health promotion, and statewide outreach...newborn screening, lead screening, immunization, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome counseling, oral health, injury prevention, nutrition and outreach/public education.”
In 2007, the money was used to serve a total of 333,299 individuals in Missouri, the largest group being children ages 1 to 22. They served 184,331 children, more than 55 percent of the total. This is similar to the national average. Of 37,116,718 people served, almost seventy percent (25,837,002) of individuals served are ages 1 to 22.
From the Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s records, it is clear the Title V funds are not focused on pregnant women or infants but children and young people. Those are who receive the most services and the most funding. It is clear then that both state and federal governments are making an extensive investment both monetarily and in services into young people and specifically into the sexual behavior of young people.
The Maternal and Health Bureau is not the only government agency funding abstinence programs. According to the Institute for Youth Development other abstinence programs are funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Division of State and Community Health, Public Health Service, Office of Population Affairs, Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs, Office of Public Health and Science, Office of Family Planning, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and US Agency for International Development. With all the agencies involved, the total cost of abstinence only education programs since 1996 is $1.5 billion.
The issue is not whether abstinence only education programs are more or less effective than safe sex programs in preventing teenage pregnancy or the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Rather, it is whether the monetary and service investments in young women’s virginity is so extensive it can be perceived as placing a dollar value on a girl’s decision to abstain from sexual activity.
