Just think how much money we could save if we cancelled all government programs that have been proven not to work … starting with abstinence-only education!
Yet the Bush administration just launched another multi-million-dollar abstinence-only crusade, complete with TV commercials of kids telling their parents: “Please tell me not to have sex until I’m married.” They even have a new website, 4parents.com, designed to teach parents how to teach kids how not to have sex.
This is the kind of crap on which we’re spending $800 million a year. It’s a total waste of money.
Every study proves that kids who are taught abstinence-only are just as likely to have sex before they’re married as any other teenagers. The problem is, they’re also less informed, less prepared, and therefore more likely to have unsafe sex or pick up a preventable, sexually transmitted disease.
That’s why at least six states so far — Ohio, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Montana, New Jersey, and Wisconsin — have refused to accept federal education funds earmarked for abstinence-only education. They don’t want their students to be uninformed or ill-informed about one of the biggest decisions they will have to make as teens.
It’s time conservatives start acting like conservatives.
Be fiscally responsible.
Cut government waste.
Stop funding abstinence-only education.