With the Health care reform in the center of the media spot light, sexual education has taken a step to the side of the stage. The 2010 Appropriations Bill for the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Realted Agencies is a 146-page bill that does not necessarily hit funding for sexuality education on the head. But it does do better than the money spent during the Bush administration- $1.8 million dollars for abstinence-only education. This is what Obama has proposed:
 

$100,000,000 shall be for making contracts and competitive grants to public and private entities to fund medically accurate and age-appropriate programs that reduce teen pregnancy; and for the federal costs associated with administering and evaluating such contracts and grants, of which not less than $75,000,000 shall be for replicating programs that have been proven through rigorous evaluation to delay sexual activity, increase contraceptive use (without increasing sexual activity), reduce the transmission of sexuallytransmitted infections or reduce teenage pregnancy; and of which not less than $25,000,000 shall be available for research and demonstration grants to develop, replicate, refine, and test additional models and innovative strategies for preventing teen pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections.

What does this say? Well it does not say specifically that it will provide funding for comprehensive sexual education programs. It says that it will provide funding for any program that can provide that it is effective. You either teach youth people about contraceptives or not at all. And the striking fact is that abstinence or contraceptives is the only way of protecting against an unplanned pregnancy AND contracting an STD/STI. The other thing it says is that there will be no further funding for research for programs that have already been deemed uneffective. This too is a step up.

But still, I wish that Mr.Obama would just come out specify that the country needs scientifically accurate, proven-to-work, better COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATION!!!!!!!