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Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), Ranking Minority Member of the Committee on Government Reform, challenged the curriculums of abstinence programs, even faulting them for relying upon religious beliefs and moral values and for engaging in gender stereotyping. However, the report prepared by Waxman's own staff was shown to have engaged in faulty analysis. A lesson plan issued by Teen-Aid Inc. that he cited as having claimed as many as 15% of women would be unable to become pregnant after an abortion did not even include that statistic.

That lack of accurate information did not stop the pro-abortion lobby from welcoming the study. The response on their "Bush v. Choice" blog is likely to strike more than a few readers as being more suitable for scrawling on bathroom walls than to be placed on the webpage of a national lobbying organization. "Whatever it is that p----- me off most, it seems that I'm not the only one," states the NARAL Pro-Choice America section on the Waxman report. "...abstinence-only programs also push bull---- sex stereotypes." What specifically raises the ire of the writer? One point she takes exception to is, "One [abstinence-only] curriculum cited in the report teaches that women need 'financial support,' while men need admiration." Unless the young women who are pregnant come from a wealthy family, they generally do need financial support. Unfortunately, this assertion is just "not progressive" enough for the NARAL Pro-Choice America writer.

Conveniently ignored by the anti-abstinence forces are the good work of pro-abstinence programs such as Project Reality and Choosing the Best.

Project Reality's Game Plan program aimed at teens in grades seven to nine has been evaluated by Northwestern University researchers.

An August 2002 study by Northwestern University Medical School researcher John S. Lyons, Ph.D., discovered that "youth have a clearer understanding of abstinence and of the health consequences of engaging in or refraining from sexual activity after participating in the program. It also appears that the abstinence message can reach youth who are already sexually active. Finally, the reported behavioral intentions to remain abstinent from sexual activity until marriage increased significantly to two-thirds of all program participants."

Lyons note that there was a lack of a control group but added that the results would be unlikely to be achieved otherwise since most teens become more permissive about issues of sexual activity over time. The youth who were tested could simply be parroting back what their elders would like to hear. Even if that were so, Lyons said, "...that would be evidence that they clearly had head the Game Plan message."

An October 8, 2004 executive summary prepared by Stan Weed, Ph.D., at the Department of Health & Human Services' Institute for Research and Development assessed the results for students in grades seven to nine in two Georgia counties, Pike and Spaulding. Of the 938 students, 549 received the Choosing the Best curricula while a comparison group of 389 students did not receive education. Spaulding was considered to be "higher risk" in regard to teen pregnancies. Pike was lower risk. Weed's research found that "Spaulding County experienced significant reductions in initiation rates in all three treatment grades compared to comparison students." The results were less clear for Pike County given the comparison groups. However, the overall finding made clear that teen sexual intercourse might be able to fall by between 50 to 60% when students were exposed to the curricula of Choosing the Best for three years.

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