Nice to be your neighbor: Iowa rejects abstinence-only

Our neighbor to the west, lovely Iowa, has officially become number 17 in rejecting abstinence-only funding! Governor Chet Culver's decision to reject abstinence-only funds comes a year after the Iowa legislature signed a bill into law that only allows medically and scientifically proven sex education in schools.

Read more: "Just saying no to only saying no," by Janessa Ensinger, The Daily Iowan, 3.5.2008.

Technorati tags: Iowa, Abstinence-only, Chet Culver, sex education,Planned Parenthood of Illinois

Bush's Backwards Budget

The one good thing about President Bush's lastest budget proposal is that it's his last. Earlier this month, the President proposed a budget that would slash Medicaid family planning funding, flat fund Title X (the nation's family planning program) and increase funding for now nearly-infamous abstinence-only programs.

Really, could he have gotten it any more wrong?

The President's budget would cut Medicaid funding for family planning by $3.3 billion over 5 years. That's a devastating cut to the millions of low income women and families that depend on Medicaid support for contraceptives, STD testing and treatment, and preventative reproductive health care.

While Congress was able to push an increase to Title X this last go-round, the program is still vastly under-funded. Flat funding Title X means that our country will continue to fail the seventeen million American women that need publicly-funded family planning services.

At the same time that the President would cut these common sense and proven approaches to health care and preventing unintended pregnancy, he would increase funding for abstinence-only programs. Wouldn't you think that after the 16th Governor rejected funds for abstinence-only programs we could move on already?

The Bush budget goes on to propose other cuts to social programs that could have a dangerous impact on public health. Read more about Bush's backwards budget here.

Technorati tags: Medicaid, Family Planning, Title X, Abstinence-only,Federal Budget, President Bush, Planned Parenthood Action Illinois

Good news in fight against abstinence-only sex ed

Earlier this month, Illinois Review, a conservative blog announced that funding for Project Reality has been cut from the state budget. This is a great step toward getting young people medically-accurate information about sex and how to protect themselves from STDs and unplanned pregnancy.

Consider this quote from a Project Reality Curriculum:

“While condom usage has increased among teens, the spread of STDs has also increased most among teens.” This comes from A.C. Green’s Game Plan, which is published by Project Reality. It clearly makes it sound like it's all those people who ARE using condoms that are responsible for the rise in STDs. Sound a little backwards to you?

A curriculum review by the Illinois Campaign for Responsible Sex Eduction (of which Planned Parenthood is a part) found that Project Reality's curricula excludes information on sexual anatomy, contraceptive options and information, information on testing and treatment for STDs, sexual orientation, information on sexual harassment, rape, sexual assault and dating violence, and prevention information for students who have already become sexually active. You'll find more from Project Reality on the website.

Can you believe our state was funding this?

In addition, numerous studies (like this one from Mathematica) have come out recently which show that abstinence-only education is not effective. We should give props to the Governor for cutting an ineffective program that was misleading Illinois youth.

Technorati tags: Abstinence-only, Sex Education, Project Reality, Planned Parenthood Action Illinois