Bigger Fish to Fry (10.15.09)

By: Maryjo M. Oster

Last weekend, I was sharing the latest in federal sex education funding news with my husband as we were driving about town. I informed him that while President Obama’s proposed budget eliminated funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and redirected those monies toward evidence-based prevention programs, the Senate Finance Committee recently voted to reinstate $50 million for the abstinence-only programs.[1] Being married to someone “in the know” on these issues means he understands and appreciates the severity and complexities of adolescent sexual health promotion far more than the average Joe, but as I recounted these saddening details to him, he responded to them by saying, “I think the government has far bigger problems to deal with right now…”

Okay, I know. My issue is but one of millions of socio-economic concerns for the United States right now, so I conceded on that point. Teen pregnancy and STI prevention will unfortunately always take a backseat to big ticket issues like the economy, unemployment, and health care. The more I started to think about it, though, I realized that teen pregnancy and STI prevention are invariably linked to each of these issues. Allow me to explain.

I happen to be working on a doctoral dissertation right now on the topic of (you guessed it) sex education and one of the sections of my literature review is entitled “Dollars and Sense: Sex Education in Social and Economic Perspective.” (Pretty witty, right?) Anyway, in it, I review several cost analyses that have been done to put a price tag on the problems of teen pregnancy and STI acquisition. According to researcher Saul Hoffman, teen childbearing cost the United States $9.1 billion in the year 2006.[2] This figure compiles health care, welfare, and incarceration costs, as well as tax revenue losses (for teen mothers and their children) associated with teen childbearing. STI acquisition is not cheap either. One study indicated that in the year 2000, there were nine million new STI cases in the 15-24 year old age bracket and that the treatment costs for just these individuals was approximately $6.5 billion (in year 2000 dollars).[3] Based on my amateur consumer price index (CPI) conversion,[4] these two dollar amounts would equal a combined $17.8 billion in year 2008 dollars and just think…the teen birth and STI acquisition rates have only INCREASED since these figures were calculated.

Based on these dollar amounts, I have to ask myself why these issues are not higher on the governmental priority list. I completely understand that teen pregnancy and STI prevention seem like small potatoes next to our ailing economy and a health care debate that has everyone up in arms, but when you take a step back and really think about it, we can ameliorate both the economic and health care crises by addressing these issues head on. By now, we all know that prevention dollars save money in the long run, but reinstating $50 million for abstinence-only-until-marriage education will do no good in this arena. Congress’s own study demonstrated that for us in 2007.[5] Whether you agree with his politics or not, President Obama’s push for proven prevention programs makes good financial sense, so to the Senate Finance Committee I say this:

Please stop wasting our time and money on ineffective programs that will do nothing to reduce the health care, welfare, and incarceration costs and tax revenue losses associated with adolescent childbearing or the treatment costs associated with adolescent STI acquisition. If you do honestly have “bigger fish to fry,” then get on it and stop trying to make the situation worse.

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[1] Associated Press. (2009). “Panel votes to restore abstinence education money.” http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jLe8AnWYSH3OJyCX_3DtoPi5PgzwD9B1D2580
[2] Hoffman, S.D. (2006). “By the Numbers: The Public Costs of Teen Childbearing.” http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/pdf/pubs/BTN_Full.pdf
[3] Chesson, H. W., Blanford, J. M., Gift, T. L., Tao, G., & Irwin, K. L. (2004). The estimated direct medical cost of sexually transmitted diseases among American youth, 2000. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 36(1), 11-19.
[4] Consumer Price Index (CPI) Conversion Factors 1774 to Estimated 2019 to Convert to Dollars of 2008: http://oregonstate.edu/cla/polisci/faculty-research/sahr/cv2008.pdf
[5] Trenholm, C., Devaney, B., Fortson, K., Quay, L., Wheeler, J., & Clark, M. (2007). “Impacts of Four Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Education Programs.” http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/pdfs/impactabstinence.pdf