In 1996, the federal government attached a provision to a welfare reform law establishing a program of special grants to states for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. The program, Title V, § 510(b) of the Social Security Act (now codified as 42 U.S.C), is commonly known as Title V. It created very specific requirements for grant recipients. Under this law, the term “abstinence education” means an educational or motivational program which:

*Has as its exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity;

*Teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for all school-age children;

*Teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems;

*Teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of sexual activity;

*Teaches that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects;

*Teaches that bearing children out of wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child’s parents, and society;

*Teaches young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increase vulnerability to sexual advances, and

*Teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity.

Title V-funded programs were not permitted to advocate or discuss contraceptive methods except to emphasize their failure rates.

The program dedicated $50 million annually to be distributed among states choosing to participate. States accepting the funds were required to match every four federal dollars with three state-raised dollars. For the first five years of the initiative, every state but California participated in the program.

In 2000, the federal government began another large program to fund abstinence education, Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE). CBAE became the largest federal abstinence-only funding source, with $115 million granted for fiscal year 2006. The CBAE awards bypass state governments, offering federal grants directly to state and local organizations that provide abstinence-only education programs. Many of these grantees are faith-based or small non-profit organizations, including crisis pregnancy centers, which use their grants to provide abstinence-only programs and services in local public and private schools and to community groups.