Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are poised to decide the fate of abstinence-only education.
The U.S. Senate likely will pass a bill this evening that would extend the Title V program for 3 months -- through the end of fiscal year 2007. It then goes to the House and must be signed by the president by Saturday to save Title V.
The Department of Health and Human Services and family advocates are urging Congress to act quickly to save the program, because cutting such funds will risk the well-being of U.S. teens.
Section 510 of Title V of the Social Security Act – established in 1996 – allowed money for abstinence-only education to be distributed to states that applied for it.
Bush submitted a budget reauthorization proposal in 2002 but Congress failed to act. Title V funding continued under a series of temporary reauthorizations and is now set to expire on Saturday.
Daniel Schneider, acting assistant secretary for the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families, sent letters to four congressional leaders: Rep. John Dingell, chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce; Rep. Joe Barton, ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce; Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Committee on Finance; and Sen. Charles Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance.
Schneider said funding is urgently needed and implored lawmakers to reauthorize funding for state abstinence-education programs.
"Sexual activity among teens has health, emotional and social consequences," the letter said. "Nearly half of all new cases of sexually transmitted diseases occur among young people aged 15-24. Among teens, sexual activity is associated with depression, especially for girls. And youth who are sexually active are more likely to participate in other risky behaviors like drinking and using drugs."
Polls show that parents and students agree that it is "important for teens to be given a strong message" of abstinence until marriage, the letter said.
Linda Klepacki, analyst for sexual health at Focus on the Family Action, said people must continue to contact their senators and representatives and ask them to support abstinence-until-marriage education funding.
"We need them to understand that this is vital to the health of their teens and young adults," she said. "If we don’t fund abstinence education in our schools , 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."
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