As Abstinence Programs Expire in June, Parents Must Pressure Congress Now

Federal funding of abstinence education in public schools will expire at the end of June — unless Democrats change their minds.

That’s why parents must put pressure on Congress over the Memorial Day recess. The problem is, liberals want to protect Planned Parenthood’s monopoly on federal sex-education funding. A study by Robert Rector of The Heritage Foundation showed for every dollar abstinence education receives, Planned Parenthood receives $12.

Depriving children of an abstinence message puts their dreams at risk. Study after study has proven it.

Sex education that encourages premarital sexual activity has proven effective in helping to spread disease, including:

• 18.9 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) each year.

• 15- to 24-year-olds representing nearly half of all new STD cases in 2000.

• 822,000 pregnancies among 15- to 19-year-olds in 2000.

The numbers haven’t changed in more than two decades. How many government studies do we have to have to know that being sexually active in your teen years is not safe?

For a video commentary on the effort to gut federal funding for abstinence education, visit our CitizenLink website.