Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Abstinence-only sex education to be defunded


President Obama's health budget proposals for 2010, eliminates funding for abstinence-only sex education programmes and increases funds for the provision of condoms and contraceptive-based sex education. The budget eliminates the $133 million set aside for CBAE (Community Based Abstinence Education) and Title V Abstinence Education Program, the two main federal abstinence-education initiatives. (AP report)

Abstinence only programmes have received about US$1.3 billion in federal funds since the late 1990s and have proved to be very effective. The only 100 percent effective way of preventing all STDs and premarital pregnancies is to abstain from sex until marriage to an uninfected spouse and to remain faithful within marriage. Contraceptive based sex education not only denies young adults this most basic truth but also places them in danger of infection from a variety of STD’s and to unplanned pregnancies.

The proposed budget according to an Abstinence Clearinghouse press release calls for an additional $150 million for contraceptive-only education, which includes competitive grants, research, evaluation and authorization for $50 million in new mandatory condom grants to states, tribes and territories,

See also SPUC Director BLOG POST