There's one guaranteed way to never get pregnant or contract a sexually transmitted infection: not having sex. In the 1990s, the United States government expanded efforts to fund programs that taught adolescents this fact. Unfortunately, that funding came with a few restrictions—most notably, the programs weren't allowed to promote or demonstrate any type of contraception whatsoever. This week, June and Josh try to figure out how these abstinence-only until marriage sex education initiatives got so much traction for so long.
<a href='https://tickets.thespaceuk.com/event/911:3580/'>***IN EDINBURGH THIS WEEK? Get tickets to the play Josh is directing, THE BOY FROM BANTAY, by clicking here!***</a>
EPISODE ART: A graph from a <a href='https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED496286.pdf'>report commissioned by the United States government</a> to study the effectiveness of four abstinence-only sex education programs. There is no meaningful difference in outcomes between those who participated in the program and those who didn't.
SOURCES:
<ul>
<li><a href='https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124171750523696797'>"Budget Widens Teen-Pregnancy-Prevention Efforts"</a> by Laura Meckler (The Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009)</li>
<li><a href='https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-10-mn-7305-story.html'>"Clinton Fires Surgeon General Over New Flap"</a> by Paul Richter and Marlene Cimons (Los Angeles Times, December 10, 1994)</li>
<li><a href='https://siecus.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/AOUM-Funding-Table-FY19-Oct-2018-FINAL.pdf'>History of Dedicated Federal Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs FY 1982-2019</a> from the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS)</li>
<li><a href='https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490509552263'>"Context counts: Long‐term sequelae of premarital intercourse or abstinence"</a> by Nicole M. Else-Quest, Janet Shibley Hyde & John D. DeLamater (The Journal of Sex Research, 2005)</li>
<li><a href='https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title05/0510.htm'>Full text of Section 510, the Separate Program for Abstinence Education</a></li>
<li><a href='https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/article_files/gr010205.pdf'>"Whatever Happened to the Adolescent Family Life Act?"</a> by Rebecca Saul (Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 1998)</li>
<li><a href='https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-01-mn-33685-story.html'>"Clinton Frees $250 Million for Sex Abstinence Teaching"</a> by Melissa Healy (Los Angeles Times, March 1, 1997)</li>
<li><a href='https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED496286.pdf'>"Impacts of Four Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Programs" report</a>, published by HHS in 2007</li>
<li><a href='https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.12.028'>"Consequences of sex education on teen and young adult sexual behaviors and outcomes"</a> by Laura Duberstein Lindberg & Isaac Maddow-Zimet (The Journal of Adolescent Health, 2012)</li>
<li><a href='https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304896'>"Funding for Abstinence-Only Education and Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention: Does State Ideology Affect Outcomes?"</a> by Ashley M Fox, Georgia Himmelstein, Hina Khalid & Elizabeth A. Howell (American Journal of Public Health, 2019)</li>
<li><a href='https://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF20E22.pdf'>"Sex Education in Public Schools: Sexualization of Children and LGBT Indoctrination"</a> by Cathy Ruse (Family Research Council, 2020)</li>
<li><a href='https://www.advocatesforyouth.org/wp-content/uploads/storage/advfy/documents/fshistoryabonly.pdf'>"The History of Federal Abstinence-Only Funding"</a> fact sheet (Advocates for Youth, 2007)</li>
<li><a href='https://static.heritage.org/2008/pdf/bg2126es.pdf'>"Abstinence Education: Assessing the Evidence"</a> by Christine C. Kim and Robert Rector (Heritage Foundation, 2008)</li>
</ul>
AUDIO CLIPS:
<ul>
<li>29:58 - <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqbB4kFtVZU'>Rush Limbaugh talking about Joycelyn Elders on an episode of the Rush Limbaugh Show</a> ca. 1994</li>
<li>35:30 - <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bMk8oAyUiE'>Joycelyn Elders in an interview with the National Visionary Leadership Project</a></li>
<li>1:04:03 - <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIEBrb_wRYc'>"Learn Gun Safety with Eddie Eagle" children's training video</a> from the National Rifle Association (NRA)</li>
</ul>
FOLLOW THE SHOW:
<ul>
<li>Send us an email: <a href='mailto:illconceivedpod@gmail.com'>illconceivedpod@gmail.com</a></li>
<li>Website: <a href='https://illconceivedpodcast.com'>illconceivedpodcast.com</a></li>
<li>Bluesky: ‪<a href='https://bsky.app/profile/illconceivedpodcast.com'>@illconceivedpodcast.com</a></li>
<li>Tumblr: <a href='https://www.tumblr.com/illconceivedpod'>@illconceivedpod</a></li>
</ul>
FOLLOW JOSH:
<ul>
<li>Website: <a href='https://joshboerman.com'>joshboerman.com</a></li>
<li>Bluesky: <a href='https://bsky.app/profile/bosh.worstpossible.world'>@bosh.worstpossible.world</a></li>
<li>Other podcast: <a href='https://www.worstpossible.world'>The Worst of All Possible Worlds</a></li>
<li>Stream: <a href='https://www.twitch.tv/traditional_scrench/'>Traditional Scrench</a></li>
</ul>
FOLLOW JUNE:
<ul>
<li>Bluesky: <a href='https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:mf5dzzqkp7fnmby6blfeljwj'>@junlper.beer</a></li>
<li>Other podcast: <a href='https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kill-the-computer/id1647062210'>Kill The Computer</a></li>
<li>Writing: <a href='https://junlper.substack.com'>June's Substack</a></li>
</ul>

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