250 mil for abstinence gibberish
Health bill restores $250 million in abstinence-education funds
A little-noticed provision of the health legislation has rescued federal support for a controversial form of sex education: teaching youths to remain virgins until marriage.
The bill restores $250 million over five years for states to sponsor programs aimed at preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases by focusing exclusively on encouraging children and adolescents to avoid sex. The funding provides at least a partial reprieve for the approach, which faced losing all federal support under President Obama’s first two budgets.
But the funding was condemned by critics, who were stupefied by the eleventh-hour rescue.
“To spend a quarter-billion dollars on abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that have already been proven to fail is reckless and irresponsible,” said James Wagoner of the Washington group Advocates for Youth. “When on top of that you add the fact that this puts the health and lives of young people at risk, this becomes outrageous.” </em>
Was this a sop to GOP neanderthals who believe in all sorts of fantasy-based bullshit like this…who weren’t gonna vote for the bill anyway?
Hard to believe I could have any less respect for Obama, but he managed it.
