Is Obama’s federal budget hostile to abstinence?

WASHINGTON — Not only does President Obama’s proposed 2013 federal budget demonstrate hostility toward the sexual risk avoidance message but the budget also contains an “illegal use of funds” that were intended by Congress for abstinence education, an expert said.

Instead of making Title V abstinence education funding available to states that qualify for the grants, the president’s budget redirects the money to a new program that “will not be limited to the Title V definition of abstinence education,” the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) said Feb. 14. Using Title V funds for programs that do not comply with the federally approved abstinence education definition is a violation of congressional intent and is outside the authority of the budgetary directive, the association said.

“Currently a majority of states accept Title V funding to provide abstinence education and we are seeing more states apply each year,” said Valerie Huber, NAEA’s executive director. “However, the administration’s attempt to usurp this funding will deny states that opportunity.” The 2012 budget contains a 20:1 spending disparity between contraceptive-centered teen pregnancy prevention versus abstinence-centered sex education programs, NAEA reports, and the latest budget proposal eliminates even the small amount of abstinence funding that had been available.

“Why would the president want to censor information that helps teens make healthy choices?” Huber said. “It just doesn’t make sense. With nearly 75 percent of 15- to 17-year-olds choosing abstinence, shouldn’t our federal sex-education policy reinforce those healthy decisions?”  (TAB)