A backer of abstinence education says the government is funding a message that attempts to redefine the meaning of "abstinence."
Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA), tells OneNewsNow that Planned Parenthood received $20 million of the $100 million in government funding for teen pregnancy prevention in 2010. An example of how the organization is using the money, she explains, can be found in its Making Sense of Abstinence curriculum.
"One of the very first activities they have for young people is 'define abstinence for yourself so that you understand the decisions and then can make boundaries and decisions clear to your partner,'" Huber reports. "Well, when you have such a subjective manner of defining a word that has real health consequences, it's kind of crazy."
Valerie HuberShe says this kind of message, which is being pushed by Planned Parenthood and other organizations, is now being implemented from the federal level down to the community level. And as discussed previously on OneNewsNow, she believes that is why many teens who claim to be abstinent have STDs.
"The new teen pregnancy prevention funding that the Obama administration implemented with the blessings of Congress is actually funding curricula that are continuing this subjective, medically inaccurate discussion and definition of abstinence," the NAEA executive director contends.
So she is hopeful the arrival of the new Congress in Washington will bring a revision of the current sex education policies.
Contact: Bill Bumpas
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: January 7, 2011
