What is the Abstinence Education Program?
The Abstinence Education Program promotes abstinence as a healthy choice and a positive lifestyle through implementation of programs designed to change the culture and individual behavior about out-of-wedlock sexual activity.  The program objectives are: 1) to implement programs for school aged children; 2) to implement "talking to your child" programs for parents and interested adults; 3) to reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and births; and 4) to involve the community in the development and implementation of programs and activities that promote and support the abstinence message.

Why is this program needed?
Despite a decrease since 1998, Arizona continues to have a teen birth rate that is higher than the national trend.  According to the Arizona Vital Statistics, Teen Pregnancy, Arizona 1997-2007, in 2007 there were an estimated 28,661 mothers in Arizona who were younger than 20 years old, 15,038 girls under the age of 20 got pregnant, and 23% of those girls had been pregnant before.  The 2007 Arizona Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is a self-report survey of students in grades nine through twelve.  This survey assesses behaviors among youth that contribute to the leading cause of morbidity and mortality during adolescence.  The YRBS indicates that 46.1% of the youth surveyed have had sexual intercourse.
Between 2004 and 2007, the incidence rate of sexually transmitted infections among females age 10-19 years has increased dramatically, as shown in the table below.

What are the goals of the program?
The goals of the program are to:

• Reduce the number of pregnancies to teenage girls age 15-19
• Reduce the number of repeat pregnancies to teenage girls age 15-19
• Reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers age  15-19

Target Audience:
The target audience is youth 12-18 years of age, parents, or other interested adults

Current Program Providers:
Seven agencies are currently funded to provide abstinence education services across the state.  The contractors are; the Yuma County Health Department, Pima Youth Partnership, Arizona Youth Partnership,  Campasinos Sin Fronteras, Catholic Charities of Maricopa County, Catholic Charities of Yavapai County, and the University of Arizona Maricopa County Cooperative Extension Service.

What has the program achieved?
In the first six months of 2009, the program provided services to 4,235 youth, 140 community members, and 670 parents in five counties.  The key focus of the program during this time period was developing youth development/service learning programs.

Funding:
Funding for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Education programs comes from monies allocated to the Arizona Department of Health Services from funds remaining in the state lottery fund each fiscal year after appropriations and deposits authorized by law are made.  The funds are used to contract with local communities to develop culturally diverse programs and strategies designed to reduce the incidence of teenage sexual activity and sexually transmitted disease.

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