Washington, D.C. is one of several cities in the U.S. where abortions outnumber live births. The numbers of youth active sexually as well as youth using drugs and alcohol has been a daunting social problem. An abstinence program called Best Friends produced amazing results among girls in the D.C. public schools. It was started in 1987 by Elayne Bennett, wife of former Education Secretary and "drug czar," William Bennett. The program has now been reformulated for young men, and is called "Best Men."

Best Friends, the program for girls, was launched in a mostly black middle school in the District, a population where abortion is disproportionately high. An independent study in 1995 found that one percent of Best Friends participants got pregnant before graduating from high school, compared with 26 percent of their peers. Only five percent of Best Friends girls had lost their virginity by 10th grade, compared with 63 percent of their peers. The program has been reproduced in schools around the country. It now has 5,000 girls in 99 public schools in 14 states, the District and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Youth choose abstinence
Modeled after Best Friends, Best Men began in the 2000-2001 school year. It is aimed at young teenagers in junior high schools of Washington, D.C. The program consists of an in-class study program, physical exercise and mentoring to teach teens how to say no to smoking, drugs, alcohol and sex--and yes to self-respect and healthy lifestyles. Few of the abstinence programs nationwide target boys specifically.

In a survey taken at the beginning of the Best Men program, 31 percent of the 60 teen-age boys enrolled said they had had sexual intercourse in the past three months. By the end of the year, 20 percent of the boys said they had had sexual intercourse in the previous three months.

Most teen-pregnancy-prevention programs stress abstinence with younger teens but assume older teen boys and young men are going to be sexually-active. Therefore, the focus changes to emphasis on contraception. Nevertheless, studies in the 1990s indicate that boys were responding to abstinence messages. Sexual activity among high school males dropped from 57% in 1991 to 49% in 1997.

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