Absence of abstinence funding

[Lesley]

saving money and eliminating programs that have failed. I'm ok with this budget cut.
The Future of Abstinence-Only Sex Ed | Newsweek Life | Newsweek.com

The Future of Abstinence
It's been a mainstay of sex ed for more than a decade. Now, as the Obama administration cuts off federal funding, the movement scrambles for money, determined to continue its mission.

For as long as anyone can remember, McLennan County has been abstinence country. Nestled in the heart of Bible-Belt Texas, it's the kind of place where the local newspaper prints "In God We Trust" on the front page of every edition. "We're a very conservative community," says Jan Hungate, an assistant superintendent for the West Independent School District. So when the McLennan County Collaborative Abstinence Program (MCCAP) came to her a little more than a decade ago, offering an abstinence-only sex education program, she says, "It was the answer to our prayers. It was exactly the way we wanted to go." .... In 2006 MCCAP had a $1 million budget, all from government grants, which they used to educate 6,000 to 7,000 students.
<snip>
Today, MCCAP struggles to reach half that number. Its $800,000 Community-Based Abstinence Education grant ran out in 2007 and was not renewed. Then, Obama's 2010 budget did not renew the Title V grant program, the other major source of abstinence-only funding, which MCCAP also used.
<snip>
In the beginning, the public-health community was open to the programs. The United States did, after all, have the highest teen pregnancy rate in the developed world. "There was open-mindedness then, that it might work" says John Santelli, of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "Everyone is willing to give new ideas a trial period." By 1999, one study estimated a third of American students were receiving an abstinence-only education. But as funding grew, so did a body of research showing that abstinence didn't change the sexual behaviors of students; pregnancy and STD rates did not go down, the age of initial sexual activity did not go up. "Each evaluation came along ... and each showed it didn't work," says Santelli. The articles appeared in peer-reviewed journals, many in the Journal of Adolescent Health, and in government-commissioned reviews. In 2007, a federally funded study of four abstinence programs found its students no more likely to abstain than those in a comprehensive program. At the same time, comprehensive programs that discuss contraceptives and their use received better, although by no means perfect, marks. Researcher Doug Kirby's 2008 review of 48 studies of comprehensive curriculums found that two-thirds either reduced frequency of sex or number of sexual partners. By time Obama cut Title V abstinence-education funds from his budget, 25 states had already begun rejecting the money, 16 because they didn't agree ideologically or weren't seeing results, the others for administrative reasons.

There's no single reason abstinence-only education proved largely ineffective, researchers say. A major factor, to be sure, was the incomplete information it provided about contraceptives and their use. "The programs that have by far the strongest evidence that they have a positive impact … are those that give the message that not having sex is safest, but if you have sex always use condom and contraception,"

[Lesley]

I must say that I found the heading of the article a little misleading in that it states that Obama killed the program. And while the adminstration may have put the final nail in the coffin, 80% of the funding disappeared in 2007. But all things tend to get blamed on Obama, so I suppose it was a useful way to encourage conservatives to read the article lol.

[OzMel]

Guess the 'abstinence clown' will be looking for a new job

[LandJ]

Who the heck is the "abstinence clown?" Is that a character a curriculum used?

[Pearls]

The article is more interesting in it's entirety. Clinton actually started the funding for the abstinence programs in 1996 with the Welfare Reform Act. Bush just doubled up the funding and made it more widely available to community groups.

I agree witht the below paragraph. I just think abstinence taught by itself, does not work. And I know it seems hypocritical to many to teach both abstinence and sex education side by side, but I do think it most effective.

Some in the abstinence-only community are open to a compromise approach as the way to move forward, a sort of hybrid of abstinence and comprehensive sex education that would include the basics of contraception. "The bottom line for me is, if kids have sex, bad things can and often do happen," says Patricia Sulak director of Scott & White's Worth the Wait, an "abstinence-centered" program in Texas. "It's better if you delay the onset of sexual activity. But if you're not going to wait, you must do things to decrease your risk." This summer, the North Carolina Legislature approved a hybrid model, where students are taught that abstinence until marriage is the only surefire way to prevent pregnancy and STDs, but are also given information on contraceptives; parents can choose to opt out of either segment. Reverend Mark Creech, executive director of the state's Christian Action League, says it's a good compromise. "When it became apparent that we weren't going to be able to succeed [in providing just abstinence-only education], we shifted to try to preserve as much of the abstinence message as possible," he says. Planned Parenthood also supports the new program because of its increased scope.

[LBWP]

I don't think it works either. Fine by me to cut it.

L (46)
K&E=7.3

[robine]

Fine by me, cut it...BUT the OP's attempt to make this seem as if some half ass rep idea was being fixed by the anointed one is funny in that CLINTOON started it






next attempt to ridicule all things rep??

[Lesley]

reading minds again, Robine? And as usual just plain wrong, snarky, judgemental and jumping to erroneous conclusions. Don't you get tired from all that jumping around?

[robine]

I hardly think I did much jumping...Your past haunts ya here..You post things you think will rip a rep a new one ( kind of neat rhythm thing going on that line) but often they are dismantled in seconds flat..that tends to make you mad and brings out the accusations of" judgmental, jumping to erroneous conclusions"

ah me

[Lesley]

thanks for your contribution to the topic at hand. BTW this Bush hater was being sarcastic.