Foes hit continued abstinence funding
By Cheryl Wetzstein
September 30, 2007
Congress again has extended funding for a core abstinence-education program, sparking protests from sex-education advocates who want Democrats to pull the plug on such programs.
"Their actions defy logic and common sense," said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth.
First, Congress funds what Mr. Wagoner called unproven abstinence programs. Then it commissions a study that shows they don't work, but lawmakers ignore those results and continue to fund the programs.
"Teens deserve better policies. We all deserve better leaders," said Mr. Wagoner, whose organization stresses rights, respect and responsibility in sex education.
Rep. James P. Moran, Virginia Democrat, said he supported "with frustration" the second three-month extension of the $50 million Title V abstinence-education program and several health programs that serve low-income families.
The health programs are effective, but unfortunately they are "held hostage" to the abstinence program, "which prizes ideology over science and ... harms our children through the provision of medically inaccurate information," Mr. Moran said Wednesday. The Senate passed its extension of Title V and other health programs on Thursday.
Abstinence supporters have been playing defense, especially since April when Mathematica Policy Research Inc. released a long-awaited evaluation of four abstinence programs. It concluded that the programs didn't affect teen sexual behavior.
"Abstinence programs don't as yet have a long track record," Janice Shaw Crouse of the Beverly LaHaye Institute wrote in a paper called, "Why the Left is Attacking Abstinence Programs."
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