The Abstinence-only Fraud

You may have heard the shocking news that state-funded moralizing adults telling teenagers not to have sex do not, in fact, prevent teenagers from having sex. Interestingly, several states–not all of them liberal and coastal–have started to turn down the abjectly useless federal funding they’re being offered:

In an emerging revolt against abstinence-only sex education, states are turning down millions of dollars in federal grants, unwilling to accept White House dictates that the money be used for classes focused almost exclusively on teaching chastity.

In Ohio, Gov. Ted Strickland said that regardless of the state’s sluggish economic picture, he simply did not see the point in taking part in the controversial State Abstinence Education Grant program anymore.

Five other states — Wisconsin, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Montana and New Jersey — already have dropped the program or plan to do so by year’s end. The program is managed by a unit of the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services.

And, really, what possible reason is there to take the money, when it can’t be used for any useful purpose, and might take up time from students actually learning something of value? I also enjoyed this quote from an administration hack:

“This report confirms that these interventions are not like vaccines,” said Harry Wilson, associate commissioner of the Family and Youth Services Bureau at the federal Administration for Children and Families. “You can’t expect one dose in middle school, or a small dose, to be protective all throughout the youth’s high school career.”

The fact that all evidence demonstrates that these programs–contrary to the repeated assertions of the administration–are a complete waste of time and money just shows that we need to put more time and resources behind them! Ah, fiscal conservatism.