Obama on Federal Funding for No-Sex Education
After the interview, given after 18-year-old Bristol gave birth to her son, Palin was reported to have done an about-face, claiming abstinence to be the only way to guarantee an end to teen pregnancy. In honor of Wednesday, National Teen Pregnancy Awareness Day, the unwed teen mother granted a few photographs and brief interviews, detailing her difficult life as a teen mother, and urging young people to abstain.
Regardless of Bristol's, or Sarah's, opinion, though, it appears that the Obama administration will no longer allow the United States government to fund abstinence-only education. Explicitly stated in President Obama's budget is the assertion that Community-Based Abstinence Education, the mandatory Title V Abstinence Education program, the Compassion Capital Fund, and Rural Community Facilities will no longer be recipients of federal funding.
This marks a big change from Bush administration, which increased funding for abstinence-only education just two years ago. The total amount being given to abstinence-only sex education, then, became $206 million.
The efficacy of abstinence-only education has long been a hotly debated topic, with scientists lining up against Christian fundamentalists. A recent study looked at the impact of 56 sex education programs of all types on teen sexual behavior. It found that abstinence-only education not only did not delay the initiation of sex in adolescents, but that only a third of the programs had any positive effects on the sexual behavior in which the adolescents did engage. In contrast, a more comprehensive sexual education program was found to positively affect teen sexual behavior in two thirds the cases studied, both delaying the initiation of sex, as well as increasing the practice of safe sex.
Bristol Palin: Abstinence for all teens 'not realistic', www.cnn.com
Accuracy and Efficacy and Ethics of Abstinence-only Programs Questioned By Public Health Experts, http://www.bio-medicine.org
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- The efficacy of abstinence-only education has long been a hotly debated topic.
- This marks a big change from Bush administration.
- Abstinence Education programs will no longer be recipients of federal funding.
1 Comments
Post a CommentAbstinence will not prevent pregnancy if the teens are not taught other things as well. Teens practice some actions that can indeed result in pregnancy even without penetration. On the other hand, I think it's the parents' main duty to teach their kids this stuff.