President Bush is pushing for more funding for abstinence only programs even as a Congressional study shows they are ineffective. The US has spent about $1 billion on failed abstinence-only sex education programs over the past decade and President Bush proposes a 2008 budget of $204 million for such programs, reports Women’s eNews.
In fact, a November 7th study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy showed that programs that combine abstinence and contraception were most effective.
Many states are now rejecting the matching federal abstinence only funds in favor of teaching comprehensive sex education. Just this month, Virginia became the 14th state to do so, cutting the $275,000 from the state budget that is required to match federal abstinence-only funding.
