House Bill Would Cut Abstinence Education Funding

The Washington Times (10/21, Wetzstein, 77K) reports, "The tug-of-war over sex education is back, thanks to a House bill that would fund the Department of Health and Human Services for fiscal 2012 but also would slash an Obama administration-inspired program and divert half the money to abstinence education." Noting that a Senate version preserves the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative funding, "which was created by the Obama administration and a Democrat-led Congress to replace Bush-era abstinence-education grant programs. TPP, now funded at $105 million, gives grants to organizations to replicate certain 'comprehensive' sex-education programs that have been proven to impact teen pregnancy."