House Committee Backs Increasing Abstinence Education by $11M

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A House subcommittee has approved a spending bill which calls on increasing federal funding for abstinence education by $11 million in fiscal year 2006. Abstinence-only education has come under increasing debate as abortion advocates seek to reduce state and national support for such programs. Last week, the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies approved the increase, which is smaller than the $39 million increase President Bush requested. In a statement, the Christian Coalition applauded the vote, but said funding for contraception-based programs is still too high. "Failed contraceptive sex education programs receive 12 dollars for every dollar abstinence receives," the pro-life groups said. "It is long past time that there is parity between the two programs." In the Senate, abortion proponents, led by Montana Sen. Max Baucus, are seeking to redefine the kind of programs that qualify for abstinence funding to switch funds from abstinence-only programs to those that also teach using contraception. Backers of abstinence education programs say that is a wrongheaded approach because the abstinence initiatives work. A new study of teenagers who took part in a sexual abstinence campaign found they were significantly less likely to have sex or use alcohol, drugs, or tobacco than their peers. The groundbreaking study of junior high and middle school aged-girls appeared in the recent issue of the journal "Adolescent & Family Health." Read the complete story.