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On Friday, the House passed an appropriations bill that once again proved it has become politically acceptable to throw the needs of adolescents under the bus. If passed, the bill will cut $10 million from the budget of CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health while resurrecting abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.
Will funding for abstinence-only-until marriage programs stay out of the budget once Congress gets its hands on it?
One of the common themes you’ll find in abstinence-only curricula is the constant shaming of young women who don’t uphold certain visual standards of chaste and purity.
The showdown in the Senate over the remaining Fiscal Year 2009 appropriations has members of the Republican party clamoring to cut spending. So why don’t they go after wasteful abstinence-only earmarks?
Yesterday, Congressional Democrats took a tentative step towards eliminating abstinence-only funding with a $14 million reduction. That still leaves $95 million in taxpayer money thrown down the drain.
Five years ago, federal funding for abstinence-only programs had ballooned and only California was refusing Title V abstinence-only funds. But the present portrait — flat funding and 25 states refusing funds — is very different.
Sexual health advocates are anticipating a paradigm shift away from abstinence-only, but still have work to do in states lagging behind in this process.
In one fell swoop, President Bush tells children he won’t ensure they receive health care – but he will make sure they’re at risk for sexually transmitted infections as a result of the abstinence-only programs his administration will continue to fund.
The tide is turning against federal funding for abstinence-only education as Congress is given the chance to dry up one stream of funding. Will they take it?
Is this the middle-ground of reproductive rights in which Hillary Clinton believes so strongly? Or are the Democrats leading us down a slippery-slope?
