PHOENIX, AZ   --  Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) is telling the Bush administration that the state does not want $1 million in federal funding for abstinence-only education because the programs don't work.

The move makes Arizona the 16th state to reject the federal money.

A raft of studies have shown that abstinence only programs in schools have done nothing to reduce teen sex and can actually harm LGBT students. The most recent was released in November, 365gay.com reports.

The study found that while abstinence-only efforts appear to have little positive impact, more comprehensive sex education programs were having "positive outcomes" including teenagers "delaying the initiation of sex, reducing the frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use."

Since 1996, the federal government has spent over a half a billion taxpayer dollars on abstinence-only programs.

A 2006 study by the independent Society for Adolescent Medicine called the programs "scientifically and ethically flawed".

When the report's authors looked specifically and LGBT teens they found that abstinence-only education was "unlikely to meet the health needs" of the group because abstinence-only programs focus heavily on no sex until marriage and ignore homosexuality. This could lead to increased risk of infection among these youngsters, the investigators said.

In July the Gay Men's Health Crisis, in New York, called abstinence only programs dangerous to gay youth.

Napolitano's rejection of federally funded abstinence education follows her approval in December of a $100,000 campaign to urge gay men to get tested for syphilis after state health officials warned the disease is reaching crisis proportions.

In Maricopa County, which includes the city of Phoenix, the number of cases for the first six months of 2007 was 25 times higher than it was seven years earlier. The majority of the cases was among men who have sex with men.

Despite Napolitano's decision whether to teach abstinence-only is left up to individual school districts.

Last update: 01-29-2008 20:46