A study of programs promoting abstinence was published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services in 2007. The study, involving more than 2,000 students, was funded by the federal government. The creators found that "this student's results provide no evidence that abstinence programs implemented in primary and upper secondary schools are effective in reducing the rate of sexual activity among adolescents" ("Impacts") . They concluded that "the results indicate that youth participating in abstinence-only programs were no more likely" than students not participating in abstinence-only programs "to have abstained from sexual relations" (" Impacts”). Additionally, among the students in the study who reported having had sex, they had "a similar number of sexual partners and began having sex at the same average age" ("Impacts"). It appears that students have not benefited from all the effort and half a billion taxpayer dollars invested in this scandalous strategy. Another study conducted at Columbia University by Peter Bearman indicates that "88 percent of those sworn to chastity reported having had sexual intercourse before marriage" (Altman). Dr. Bearman also says that telling teens “to just say no,” without understanding the risk or how to protect against the risk, creates a greater risk of sexually transmitted diseases” (Altman). Dr. Paige S. Herweck is a physician who contributed to a report on adolescent sexual activity by the American Academy of Pediatrics. She reported that "teaching abstinence, but not birth control, makes it more likely that once adolescents begin sexual activity, they will have unsafe sex and contract sexually transmitted diseases" ( “Doctors criticize abstinence”). Adolescents learn to “say no” to sex through programs promoting abstinence. They are not taught the facts necessary to