The debate over what type of sex education should be offered in public schools has become highly political. However, the debate has become less about what programs are more effective and more about conflicting ideologies. Effectiveness is typically measured by the ability of a program to increase the use of condoms and contraceptives, increase communication between partners, delay the onset of first intercourse and increase sexual satisfaction.
However, biased politically-motivated groups would argue that effectiveness means delaying intercourse until marriage and only having one partner throughout the course of life. Research though has shown that over 95% of people engage in intercourse before marriage. This, of course, means any program would fail if measured against these standards.
Abstinence-only policy has been dominant in the US, receiving over $1 billion dollars since the program first started. Sadly, sexologists and other researchers have known for quite some time that these programs are failures, and numerous research studies support this.
June 30, 2009, President Barak Obama did not sign the bill to continue federal funding of this program. But this fight is not over. People who still support the Abstinence-only policy continue to fight to include this policy in the new health care plan.
If you would like more information about the program, check out WEBMD which reports that the CDC rejected the plan and declared that education is the best policy.