(Mass. Gov) Patrick seeks to forgo grant, end classes on sex abstinence - Boston Globe

[Eugene]

Source: Boston Globe

Patrick seeks to forgo grant, end classes on sex abstinence
But leaders in House back funding

By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | April 24, 2007

Governor Deval Patrick wants to end state-sponsored , abstinence-only
sex education in Massachusetts, a year after Governor Mitt Romney ordered
the Department of Public Health to redirect a long-standing federal
abstinence grant to classes that focus exclusively on encouraging teenagers
to avoid sexual encounters.

Patrick proposed forgoing the $700,000 grant, which the state has received
since 1998, joining at least six other states in rebelling against increasingly
restrictive federal mandates about how the money can be used.

The Patrick administration points to the federal government's study of
abstinence-education programs, released this month, which found that
students in programs focusing solely on abstinence are just as likely to
have sex as those not in such programs. At the same time, health officials
say, the programs' emphasis on the failure rate of condoms and other birth
control, without providing instruction about their benefits, may confuse
young people and discourage them from using protection.

"We don't believe that the science of public health is pointing in the
direction of very specific and narrowly defined behavioral approaches like
the one that is mandated by this funding," said John Auerbach, the state
commissioner of public health.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/04/24/patrick_seeks_to_forgo_grant_end_classes_on_sex_abstinence

[Mass]

1. Another reason why Patrick was the best choice.

[Forkboy]

2. The right move...and a gutsy one when Mass may or may not have any money as it is.

We're still trying to figure out just what the Hell Romney did with it. :)

[MasonJar]

3. Good for him. I teach high school juniors and seniors and, believe me,

that is money thrown into la la land.

[StopThief]

4. Right on!!!

EVERYONE knows that abstinence does not work.

[kiteinthewind]

5. Thank you! Nothing wrong with promoting abstinence but you still have to give kids

information about contraceptives so if they don't choose abstinence they can use their brain to protect themselves from pregnancy and STD's. This is exactly what these Abstinence ONLY people don't get. If they REALLY cared about stopping abortion, they would SUPPORT ways to stop unplanned pregnancies. It's a no-brainer.:banghead:
But what they REALLY care about is forcing kids to think and behave like they do. No respect for their choices.

[SharonAnn]

9. I'm no so sure that the promoters actually behave the way they think

kids should behave.

Examples of adultery, etc. abound.

[kiteinthewind]

10. You're right. I should have said how they proclaim to behave....until they get caught. Then

'Satan' has come into their lives and now they have sinned, blah, blah, blah Hypocrite after hypocrite. Wasn't someone on DU keeping a list of all the Religious Right's transgressions-adultery, pedophilia, homosexuality (Transgression in THEIR words), etc?

:eyes:

[Marnieworld]

6. Wow!

That is fantastic. :applause:

[rodeodance]

7. darn---to late to REC-------so a kick.

[rodeodance]

8. WI, CT, MT NJ, California and Maine also REJECT the funds

States began to stop reapplying for the money on the grounds that the restrictions were too much. According to the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States, the states of New Jersey, Wisconsin, Ohio, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Montana have decided not to reapply for the funds this year, and a dozen more are considering dropping out. California and Maine had previously decided not to participate in the program.

Rebecca Ray, director of Healthy Futures, said the funding from the state has helped the program to expand from 5,000 students to more than 11,000, mostly within the schools it already served.

Healthy Futures is a subsidiary of a Christian, anti abortion group called A Woman's Concern, but Ray said the curriculum is not religious and does not tell students what to think about abortion.

Rather, she said, the focus is on helping students make the choice to wait to have sex until they are in a healthy, lifelong relationship. She said the only information the program disseminates about condoms and other birth control is to explain that they are not 100 percent effective in preventing sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.