BOSTON - A federal court has granted attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund the right to intervene on behalf of Silver Ring Thing, an abstinence-based sex education program in danger of losing federal funding because of an ACLU lawsuit.
"ADF chose to represent SRT because the program offers kids the truth about the only certain way to avoid the destructive effects of premarital sex: abstinence," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster. "We are continuing our fight to show SRT has not run afoul of the law and in fact never utilized funding for religious indoctrination or teaching, as the ACLU claims."
SRT's program encourages teenagers to sign a pledge of abstinence until marriage and to wear a silver ring as a reminder of their vow.
The ACLU of Massachusetts filed its lawsuit,
ACLU of Massachusetts v. Leavitt, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts last month against federal officials in charge of funding sex education programs. The ACLU claims that funding provided by the federal government to SRT constitutes an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
According to the motion to intervene, SRT has a direct interest in the outcome of the case since the ACLU is challenging SRT's constitutional right to participate in government funding programs free from religious discrimination.
"Time and time again, the effectiveness of abstinence-only education programs has been proven," Oster said. "The ACLU's continuing crusade to undermine programs which encourage teenagers to remain abstinent shows again their ethical shortcomings and an agenda which is beneficial to no one."
Oster clarified the facts about the recent decision of the Department of Health and Human Services with regard to funding for SRT: "HHS has asked SRT to clarify its guidelines to make sure that money is not spent inappropriately, but made no finding that money was spent inappropriately. HHS simply wants assurance that all guidelines will be met. SRT is working toward that end, as it always has."
ADF-allied attorneys Robert Kilroy and Mirick O'Connell of Westborough are local counsel in the case.
ADF is America's largest legal alliance defending religious liberty through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
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