BOSTON — The United States government has reached a settlement agreement in a case involving Silver Ring Thing, an abstinence-based sex education program represented by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund and attacked by the American Civil Liberties Union on the basis of the program’s use of federal funds. The settlement allows Silver Ring Thing to compete for future grants just as other sex education programs do.
“Apparently, the ACLU of Massachusetts would have us believe that discussion of abstinence is unconstitutional, and that it is purely a religious issue,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster. “ADF is pleased that abstinence-based sex education programs like Silver Ring Thing will continue to have the right to seek federal funding for its educational programs.”
Silver Ring Thing’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 filed its lawsuit,
ACLU of Massachusetts v. Leavitt, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in July 2005 against federal officials in charge of funding sex education programs. The ACLU claims that funding provided by the federal government to Silver Ring Thing constitutes an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in August 2005, “These programs have been proved not only ineffective, but also dangerous to the health and well-being of teens.”
“Programs like Silver Ring Thing have been proven to be effective,” said Oster. “Leave it to the ACLU to come to the absurd conclusion that abstinence programs are dangerous to the health of teens. Is she serious?”
According to a 2003 Zogby poll sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, 96 percent of American parents say they want teens to be taught that abstinence is best (
www.heritage.org/research/welfare/bg1722.cfm).
Last year, ADF attorneys won intervention in the case for Silver Ring Thing, which was in danger of losing the ability to obtain federal funding because of the ACLU’s lawsuit
www.telladf.org/news/pressrelease.aspx?cid=3511.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
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