WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Henry Waxman says federally funded abstinence education programs that are used in 25 states contain false and misleading information about contraception, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases. 

A report Wednesday from the California Democrat said 11 of the 13 most widely used programs underestimate the effectiveness of condoms in preventing pregnancy and the spread of disease, exaggerate the prevalence of emotional and physical distress following abortion, blur science and religion or get fundamental scientific facts wrong. 

Alma Golden, deputy assistant Health and Human Services Secretary for population affairs, said the Waxman report took statements out of context to present the programs in the worst possible light. "These issues have been raised before and discredited," Golden said. 

"One thing is very clear for our children, abstaining from sex is the most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs and preventing pregnancy." 

The abstinence programs, which have been embraced by President Bush, will receive $170 million in the current government spending year, more than double what the government was spending when Bush took office in 2001. 

The abstinence curriculum may not include instruction in contraceptive use as a condition of federal funding. 

Waxman said, "It is absolutely vital that the health education provided to America's youth be scientifically and medically accurate. The abstinence-only programs reviewed in this report fail to meet this standard." 

A.C. Green's Game Plan, named for the professional basketball player who said he would not have sex before he was married, raises question about whether condoms can stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, Waxman's report said. 

"The popular claim that condoms help prevent the spread of STDs, is not supported by the data," the program's teacher's manual says. 

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other researchers have found that consistent and correct condom use does protect against transmissions of many STDs, the report said. 

Other programs asserted as fact sharply contested claims, the report said. 

The FACTS middle school program, developed by Northwest Family Services, says, "Conception, also known as fertilization, occurs when one sperm unites with one egg in the upper third of the fallopian tube. This is when life begins." 

In another instance, the Why kNOw curriculum asserts "twenty-four chromosomes from the mother and twenty-four chromosomes from the father join to create this new individual," the report said. The correct number is 23 each. 

Some curriculums also rely on what Waxman called damaging stereotypes about boys and girls, including that girls care less about achievement and their futures. The Why kNOw curriculum teaches "Women gauge their happiness and judge their success by their relationships. Men's happiness and success hinge on their accomplishments."

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The Bush administration is funding abstinence education curricula that teaches "false and misleading information," says a report released yesterday by a House Democratic leader. "It is absolutely vital that the health education provided to America's youth be scientifically and medically accurate," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat and ranking member of the House Government Reform Committee, who issued the report. 

The report says 11 of 13 abstinence-only curricula "contain errors and distortions" about contraceptives, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), abortion, sex roles and sexual activity.

Mr. Waxman decried the Bush administration's burgeoning support of such education, with $170 million expected to be allocated in fiscal 2005, more than twice the amount spent in 2001. "Something is seriously wrong when federal tax dollars are being used to mislead kids about basic health facts," Mr. Waxman said.

The congressman's report "misses the boat," said Dr. Alma Golden, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Public Health and Science. Taking issues and information out of context to discredit abstinence education "is a disservice to our children," she said. "Studies show, as does my own experience as a pediatrician, that abstinence works, especially when combined" with parental guidance about boundaries and expectations regarding sex and relationships. 

Earlier this year, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) released a state-by-state review of abstinence programs. The Waxman report "reiterates and underscores what we've been saying for some time - that these programs are out of control ... using fear and shame, proselytizing on religion, using inaccurate information," said SIECUS spokesman William Smith. 

However, abstinence curriculum providers stood by their materials. "The information presented in [abstinence curricula] 'Game Plan' and 'Navigator' is medically accurate, and all information presented is from data compiled by national sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and the American Social Health Association. These curricula have been reviewed by physicians and public health professionals and have been found to be statistically and medically accurate," said Libby Gray, director of Project Reality in Glenview, Ill., which produces those two programs. 

The Waxman report reviewed programs funded by the largest federal grant program, Special Programs of Regional and National Significance Community-Based Abstinence Education. It found

• References to a now-discredited 1993 study that suggested condoms had a relatively low (69 percent) rate of effectiveness in preventing HIV/AIDS transmission.
• Statements about how HIV and other pathogens can "pass through" imperfections in condoms. In fact, the CDC states that latex condoms "provide an essentially impermeable barrier to particles the size of STD pathogens," the Waxman report said.
• Statements about how "5 to 10 percent of women will never again be pregnant after having a legal abortion." In fact, obstetrics textbooks teach that fertility "is not altered" by an elective abortion, the report said.

"Several curricula also present misleading information about the relationship between sexual activity and mental health, inaccurately suggesting that abstinence can solve all psychological problems," the report said.