(Minnesota) State says no thanks to no-sex funding

[question everything]

StarTribune.com
State says no thanks to no-sex funding

Minnesota's abstinence-only sex education program for adolescents is fading as such teaching grows controversial.

By Josephine Marcotty, Star Tribune

10/20/07

Publicly funded abstinence-only sex education in Minnesota has nearly disappeared. Last month, for the first time in a decade, Minnesota officials quietly said no thank you to $500,000 in federal abstinence-only money. That leaves a budget of only $331,000 for a statewide program that as recently as 2004 received $2 million. The decision not to apply for the federal funding came at a time when the value of abstinence-only sex education is being fiercely debated in Minnesota and nationally.

At issue is the question of whether adolescents and teenagers should be taught the view embraced by social conservatives -- that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. According to that view, comprehensive sex education that also teaches kids about birth control or safer sex practices encourages them to have sex. Rules tied to the federal funding forbid any mention of the effectiveness of contraception or of sexual practices that reduce the risk of disease.

Several recent studies have raised the decibel level in the national debate because they found that abstinence-only programs are ineffective in reducing sexual activity among teenagers and adolescents. In fact, critics of abstinence-only education say its prevalence might be one reason why the long decline in sexual activity among teenagers has stalled since 2001, and why American teens continue to have the highest rates of pregnancy and abortion in the industrialized world.

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Congress is now considering whether to increase abstinence-only funding, which now totals $175 million a year. And the U.S. Senate is expected to vote next week on whether the sex education that money pays for must include scientifically based information Critics say abstinence programs have sometimes used medically unfounded information. For example, Resnick said he's seen some curricula that assert HIV can be transmitted by sweat or tears.

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http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1496751.html

[rusty quoin]

1. Well good for them. Misinformation is worthless and worse.