The Alabama state motto is "We Dare Maintain Our Rights." Reading this, I thought about the disproportionately high teenage birth rate in Alabama (according to the Alabama Department of Public Health, the teen birth rate is 52.4 per 1,000 teenagers in Alabama, versus 41.1 per 1,000 nationwide), the outrageous number of STD cases in the state (a 2006 CDC report shows that Alabama ranks second, fourth, and fifth in the nation for syphilis, gonorrhea, and Chlamydia, respectively), and also about the rate and demographics of HIV infection (the ADPH reported that African Americans represented 72 percent of new cases of HIV in Alabama, and individuals under the age of 34 represented 43 percent of new HIV/ AIDS cases). Thinking about these staggering numbers, the question naturally arises: exactly which rights are being maintained in Alabama?

One thing is clear: it is certainly not the right to comprehensive, medically accurate sexuality education. In 2007, over $4.75 million in federal dollars for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs flowed into the state through three separate federal funding streams. Since 1998, these programs in Alabama have received more than $33 million. Nationally, Congress has funneled over $1.5 billion to abstinence-only-until-marriage programs since 1996.

With money surging into Alabama to support abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, and health outcomes so negative, something doesn't add up. Taking a cue from the report released by current chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Representative Henry Waxman in 2004, SIECUS and AIDS Alabama have completed a report documenting the content of curricula used by federal abstinence-only grantees in Alabama. Many states — and, particularly, Southern states — have alarmingly high teen pregnancy, STD, and HIV rates compared to the national average. Focusing on Alabama allowed us to give a clearer picture of which programs are operating in the state and what those programs are teaching (or, more accurately, preaching).

The Alabama Report reveals much about the curricula being used to spread the abstinence-only-until-marriage message. Six key categories of information surfaced in the curricula: relying on messages of fear and shame; providing misinformation about HIV/AIDS, other STDS, condoms, and contraception; mandating marriage (and ignoring LGBTQ students and families); fostering gender myths and stereotypes; encouraging teens to take virginity pledges; and promoting religion.

For example, Why kNOw, a curriculum used in Alabama by Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage sub-grantees, relies on messages of fear and shame. At one point it states about sex outside of marriage: "WARNING! Going on this ride could change your life forever; result in poverty, heartache, disease, and even DEATH." It goes on to say that many "will board this ride and come out losers." And, no, we're not making this up.

It gets more ridiculous. The Choosing the Best PATH curriculum, which is also used by abstinence-only-until-marriage grantees in Alabama, contains a sample activity called "A Mint for Marriage." A peppermint patty is unwrapped and passed around the class. Once returned, the teacher asks if a student would like to eat it, asking, "Why is this patty no longer appealing?" The answer: "No one wants food that has been passed around. Neither would you want your future husband or wife to have been passed around."

As if scaring and shaming students isn't bad enough, Alabama students are being taught false information about HIV/AIDS, STDS, condoms, and contraception. Why kNOw uses an eighteen-foot long stuffed sperm and a penny to suggest condoms have large holes through which sperm and HIV can easily pass through. (This is simply false — research from the CDC shows that when used consistently and correctly, latex condoms are highly effective in preventing pregnancy and reducing the risk of STDs, including HIV.)

Alabama students receive another message loud and clear from these failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs: sex is only for married, heterosexual people. Curricula, such as Choosing the Best PATH, instruct students that people who have pre-marital sex are doomed to have failed marriages because "repeated sexual encounters make it difficult to begin and maintain lasting relationships because the ability to bond emotionally is destroyed." They should try to sell this tripe to the approximately 95 percent of people in the U.S. who have sex prior to marrying.

And, these programs fail to mention sexual orientation, acknowledge that some people are in same-sex relationships, or admit that their message of marriage for all completely ignores this segment of the population.

Young women and men participating in an abstinence-only-until-marriage program in Alabama also receive instruction promoting gender stereotypes. The WAIT Training curriculum states, "It has been said that women will give sex to get love while men will give love to get sex."

Why are we pouring our tax dollars into this type of "education?"

Our tax dollars are going to promote another fiasco in Alabama: virginity pledges. Virginity pledges involve taking an oath to remain "pure" until your wedding night. Research has found that under certain conditions these pledges may help a small group of adolescents delay the onset of sexual intercourse for an average of 18 months, but young people who took a pledge were one-third less likely to use contraception when they did become sexually active, than their peers who had not pledged.

Technically, abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in Alabama that receive federal dollars are prohibited from promoting religion. Yet, some amount of religious — specifically Christian — promotion does occur. Why kNOw both instructs students that sex is a "gift from God," and that the best guideline for love ever written comes from 56 AD, then proceeds to directly paraphrase 1 Corinthians 13:4.

Advocates across Alabama are working hard to maintain the right to comprehensive, medically accurate sexuality education for all youth and fight against these failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. On April 1, the folks at AIDS Alabama are hosting a media day in Montgomery to honor activists and legislative champions fighting the HIV epidemic in the state, and to draw attention to lack of funds and resources badly needed in the state for HIV prevention and education. The Alabama Report composed by AIDS Alabama and SIECUS will be released the same day and available here.

For more information on AIDS Alabama and Media Day in Montgomery, please contact Amy Bark at [email protected].