Abstinence aimed at grade-schoolers

[Rose Siding]

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New Mexico Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Friday her decision to target $500,000 in federal sexual-abstinence education funding toward elementary-school students, because national research suggests that abstinence programs work best among students who have not yet had sex.

Groups that deliver sex education in the schools may apply for funds to use next school year.

When it comes to students in grades seven through 12, lessons must include discussion of contraceptives and sexually transmitted diseases, she said. Promoting abstinence, however, will continue to be a theme in all sex-education curricula.

Lujan Grisham had received strong recommendations from her staff to continue to accept federal money for sexual-abstinence education -- and other recommendations urging her to decline.........

http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/12407.html