christian grantham
Christian Grantham was a student activist in the late 90s and later was a consultant to domestic policy forums for the Clinton Administration as well as events for HRC and GLAAD.
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March 17, 2005

Amid ballooning deficits, irresponsible tax cuts and deep cuts in funding in his 2006 budget, Bush proposes dramatically increasing spending on unproven abstinence-only sex education.

Reports commissioned by the Texas Department of State Health Services on abstinence only education in 29 Texas schools showed an increase in sexual activity among teens exposed to abstinence materials. Another report showed 80% of the materials used contained "false, misleading or distorted information."

But what do these people care about science and facts? The Bible is very clear on the subject of fornication and keeping kids in the dark about life-saving discoveries after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. The Bible is also clear on how spending more tax dollars can help failed parents convince the rest of us to save it for marriage.

In the past five years, President Bush has more than doubled funding for such programs, which teach that abstinence from sexual activity until marriage is the only sure way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other health problems.

In his fiscal year 2006 budget unveiled last month which drastically slashed spending on hundreds of other social programs, Bush proposed increasing funding for abstinence by $39 million to $206 million, rising to $270 million by 2008.

Yet critics say there is no evidence these programs have any effect on reducing teen-age sexual activity and often offer misleading or outrightly false information about reproductive health that increases the risks of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

"Bush may be sincere but he is also pandering to his political base and paying more attention to the ideology than the facts," said Michael McGee, vice president for education for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which calls abstinence-only education "one of the religious right's greatest challenges to the nation's sexual health."
[Bush Pushes Sexual Abstinence for Teens Despite Data - Reuters - 03-17-05]