The U.S. House today passed legislation that extends funding for Title V abstinence education for three months – until the end of the fiscal year.
The Senate passed the bill last month. It now goes to the president.
Section 510 of Title V of the Social Security Act – established in 1996 – allows money for abstinence-only education to be distributed to states that apply for it. Bush submitted a budget reauthorization proposal in 2002, but Congress failed to act. Title V funding has continued under a series of temporary reauthorizations and was set to expire on June 30. The three-month extension buys lawmakers little time to save the program.
Linda Klepacki, analyst for sexual health at Focus on the Family Action, said people must continue to contact their federal lawmakers and ask them to support abstinence-until-marriage education funding beyond the three-month extension.
"We applaud the extension for Title V state abstinence-education funding passed today by Congress and thank them for protecting our children, if only temporarily," she said. "But, we look forward to the day that Congress will reauthorize Title V state abstinence-education funding in order to protect our children."
Abstinence education is vital to the health of teens and young adults, Klepacki added.
"If we don’t fund abstinence education in our schools," she said, "we will most likely see skyrocketing sexually transmitted infection rates, skyrocketing teen pregnancy and abortion rates, and a return to heavy dependency on welfare tax dollars."
