Male: In Georgia, 3 students discuss how to get more comprehensive sex education in their school curriculum. In Ohio, a mother fights against abstinence only education.
Mom: It’s like brainwashing.
Male: In Florida, parents and teenagers discuss unintended pregnancies.
Female: I know kids who plan pregnancies in high school.
Male: But is congress listening? Attach to the recent health care legislation is a provision which mandates more money for abstinence only until marriage programs.
The bill reinstates title 5 funding to the tune of $50 million a year for 5 years.
Jen: Last fall when it passed the senate finance committee, I was in disbelief. And I think the fact of the program stayed in the legislation and it wasn’t pulled out at any point in time. Particularly as the republicans wasn’t involved in the process, it stopped being a bi-partisan process. That in continued to be disbelief, dismay.
James: We know Waxmin went to bat for young people and try to get this out of the bill. We know senator Lawtonburg, senator Franken; we believe we had the support of Senator Reid. So we had a lot of people phoning in and saying, get this out. It’s totally wasteful spending. It puts young people’s health and lives at risk. We don’t know yet is who insisted on putting it in and nobody is telling us the answer to that question right now.
Jen: The fact that you would extend the program that doesn’t come from a health perspective, that leaves young people at risk for unintended pregnancies, SPDs, and HIV. And has been proven time and again to be ineffective at its stated goals, why you would include that in a piece of health care legislation is just a mystery. The irony I think is at times overwhelming.
James: Who decided that this was a good idea to burn $250 million dollars a year of tax payer dollars? Who decided that it made sense to put programs back that congress last year had sunsetted in the house and in the senate? They decided these programs were proven failures. For this conservative democrats to come forward with all their budget deficit reduction pretention and somehow slip into it its bill a quarter of a billion dollars over 5 years for an ideological boon doggle Like abstinence only until marriage. It takes hypocrisy to a whole new level.
Jen: We need, as advocates to do the job of the accountability for members of the house and senate to say why wasn’t this program pulled and stripped from the final health care legislation. And by way of follow up down the road very soon after everything with health care is finalize, to say, how are you going to end in this program. This program cannot continue for the next 5 years.
Male: The same legislation also calls for $75 million a year for more comprehensive sex education.
Jen: It’s a wonderful program. We are thrilled that for the first time ever, states will have the opportunity to apply for funding for comprehensive sex education that has to discuss abstinence and contraception. Address the prevention of unintended pregnancy, HIV, and STDs, and other life skills. And I think this is an amazing opportunity for states across the country to finally start that infrastructure and building that infrastructure for comprehensive sex education. So the health reform legislation, I think for all of us is a bitter sweet. There's many good things, including this comprehensive sex education grant program coming with it, and unfortunately there's also the title 5 abstinence until marriage extension with it.