Democrats Abstain From Principles: Fund Bush Anti-Sex Education Programs at Record Level

[marmar]

from HuffPost:




James Wagoner
Democrats Abstain From Principles: Fund Bush Anti-Sex Education Programs at Record Level
Posted November 5, 2007 | 03:57 PM (EST)



Late last week, the Democratic controlled Labor HHS Appropriations Conference Committee endorsed a record $141 million dollar budget for community-based abstinence-only-until-marriage programs which prohibit information about condoms and birth control.

The record-level increase, pushed by House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI), flies in the face of a congressionally mandated evaluation showing that abstinence-only programs have "no impact on adolescent behavior." Astonishingly, the windfall was larger than what President Bush had been able to obtain from the prior conservative, Republican-controlled Congress!

In one outrageous move, the Democrats managed to put the health and safety of millions of young people at risk, promote programs that spread ignorance in the era of AIDS, and slap their party's brand on one of the biggest ideological boondoggles in recent congressional history. Over $1.5 billion dollars have been spent over the last decade on programs that simply do not work!

The architect of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, must be pinching himself to make sure he isn't dreaming. When these programs were created as a beneath-the-radar amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill in 1996, ultra-conservative opponents of sex education knew they had launched a major strategic initiative with the potential to achieve many of their goals relating to sexual health in America.

By censoring health-saving information about condoms and birth control and stressing only "failure rates," they seriously undercut the credibility of contraception with America's youth. By placing sexual health information in an ideological, rather than a public health frame, they were also able to promote their own narrow views on topics like abortion, sexual orientation, and gender roles.

Many of the abstinence-only curricula strayed far from the facts. This was documented by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) in a 2004 government oversight committee report showing that over 80% of programs contained "false or misleading information." The medical and ethical implications of this disinformation campaign were so significant that in 2006 the Society of Adolescent Medicine warned that abstinence-only programs "threaten fundamental human rights to health, information and life." ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-wagoner/democrats-abstain-from-pr_b_71226.html

[Ian David]

1. Yay! More unprotected oral and anal sex for American Teens! Gawd Bless America!

Thanks to Bush's "Abstinence" programs, a whole generation of girls is going to give the BEST head in the world by the time they turn 18!

Thank you, Bush!

[angstlessk]

2. They are doing to us what boosh did to the country on 9/11

commited a crime in broad daylight then asked..."whacha gonna do bout it?" Same thing here..."whacha gonna do bout it?" What CAN we do? the 9/11 truth movement has garnered some of the best and brightest asking for more investigations..NOTHING, SILENCE. now we get to say, just wait 4 years till YOU come up for election again!! WE ARE ALL SCREWED!

[iconoclastic cat]

3. It is past time to stop voting. nt