The Bush administration has continuously supported programs teaching US students to abstain from sex. This measure should have cut teen pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases and delayed the age at which sex begun, health groups told Congress on Wednesday.

On the other hand, many Democrats called for cutting off federal money for such programs which are called abstinence-only instruction during a hearing before a House of Representatives panel, Reuters reported.

"Vast sums of federal monies continue to be directed toward these programs. And, in fact, there is evidence to suggest that some of these programs are even harmful and have negative consequences by not providing adequate information for those teens who do become sexually active," Dr. Margaret Blythe of the American Academy of Pediatrics told the committee, according to Reuters.

This type of programs should oppose the teaching of contraception methods to teenagers in schools. However, 17 of the 50 US states refuse to accept federal funds for these programs.

Experts from the American Public Health Association and U.S. Institute of Medicine said that these programs’ results weren’t the ones expected. Abstinence-only teaching doesn’t work when it comes to cutting pregnancies, minimizing the cases of sexually transmitted diseases or the age when sexual activity begins.

The programs and the decision of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform were also criticized by the American Psychological Association and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

"Those adolescents who choose to abstain from sexual intercourse should obviously be encouraged and supported in their decisions by their families, peers and communities. But abstinence should not be the only strategy that is discussed," Blythe was quoted as saying by Reuters.    

Meanwhile, government statistics showed that one in four US teenage girls is affected by a sexually transmitted disease. More than 20 percent of US teenage girls become pregnant before the age of 20.

On the other hand, magazines and other media affiliated to churches launched the idea that abstinence education is effective at delaying sexual initiation and reducing the levels of early sexual activity. They called for a study led by Stan Weed of the Institute of Research and Evaluation to justify the findings.

"Abstinence education has been a mainstream curriculum for less than a decade," Weed added. "That is a very short time to measure the success of a program, but this study indicates that properly targeted, focused and implemented policies, programs and funding streams can turn the trends of negative behavioral consequences in a positive direction," said Weed, who initiated a study which evaluated the Virginia Abstinence Education Initiative, published in the January/February edition of the American Journal of Health Behavior.