Planned Parenthood Blasts President Bush for Increasing Abstinence Funds 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 8, 2005
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — President Bush has done it again. He’s increased federal funding for abstinence education programs and grants to states to encourage young people to abstain from sexual relations. The news has Planned Parenthood upset.
The abortion business condemned Bush on Monday for increasing abstinence education funding his recent budget to $205.5 million, saying it was "outrageous."
"It isn’t the ‘abstinence’ we object to, it’s the ‘only," explained PPFA Interim President Karen Pearl.
"Abstinence should be part of any responsible sex education program," Pear said, and indicated her group favors it being included in a comprehensive sex education program that also teaches teens about birth control.
Bush’s FY 2006 budget increases abstinence-only education funding by $39 million over the 2005 version of his spending plan, moving it up by 25 percent. The budget notes that additional increases will be sought and reach a total of $270 million by 2008.
In his State of the Union address last year, Bush said he wanted the extra funding "so schools can teach this fact of life: Abstinence for young people is the only certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases."
"Abstinence-only funding is not only ineffectual," Pearl claimed, "it’s often just plain wrong."
"The government is spending huge amounts of money trying to promote programs that simply don’t work, when giving teens the facts about abstinence, birth control, and how to prevent infection would be much more effective," Pearl added.
However, an April 2004 study published in Adolescent and Family Health found that abstinence was the major cause of declining birth and pregnancy rates among teen girls. It attributes 53 percent of the decline in pregnancy rates for 15-17 year olds to decreased
sexual activity — larger than the decline from contraception.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows a decrease in the number of teens who are sexually active from 1991 (54.1 percent of teens) to 2003 (46.7 percent of teens).
A January 2004 Zogby International poll shows parents overwhelmingly support abstinence education for teenagers.
Out of the 1,004 parents surveyed across the nation, 96 percent said abstinence is best for teens. The vast majority of American parents want their children’s sex education classes to emphasize abstinence until marriage, according to poll, which was commissioned by Focus on the Family.
Only 39.9 percent thought that abstinence and contraception should be combined in a single class.
Related web sites:
Abstinence Clearinghouse – https://www.abstinence.net
Extensive information rebutting Waxman’s claims can be found at:
https://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/wm615.cfm
