Sex Education vs. Abstinence in Obamacare

Rachel Sheffield / December 01, 2009

Deep within the current debate over health care reform, the longstanding controversy between comprehensive sex education and abstinence education continues. The Senate health care bill allocates $75 million a year for comprehensive sexuality education programs and $50 million a year for abstinence education, which was zeroed out in President Obama’s 2010 budget. Earlier this fall, Senator Hatch (R-UT) was successful in amending the Baucus health care bill to reinstate Title V abstinence education funding.

According to Valerie Huber, Executive Director of the National Abstinence Education Association, “The recent CDC statistics detailing epidemic levels of STDs calls for a strong primary prevention message–a strategy only found within abstinence education.” Teen pregnancy rates are on the rise for the first time in nearly a decade and a half. Besides the obvious benefits of avoiding sexually transmitted disease, pregnancy, and single parenthood, youth who remain abstinent report higher levels of academic achievement and lower depression rates. Furthermore, they are also less likely to use alcohol. (more…)