Stuff For Your Other Head: Michigan Given $1.4 Million for Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Programs

Last Wednesday, the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) announced they received $1.4 million in grants for abstinence-only education programs.

That’s right, kids! It’s bad enough we bailed out Wall Street after having wounded our nation’s economy, but now we’re investing our hard-earned tax dollars into a sex-ed program that has been proven time and time again to be ineffective.

The grant programs are directed at youth ages 12-18 and parents of youth in that age group. Of the money, $875,000 will go to community groups and organizations, while an additional $542,000 will fund technical staffing and an abstinence-only public awareness campaign. Michigan spends $700,000 a year on other sexual health education programs.

“The Michigan Abstinence Program is geared to promote abstinence from sexual activity and other related risky behaviors,” said MDCH Director Janet Olszewski in a press release. “This funding will further help our communities and the abstinence program guide our youth away from risky activity.”

More outrageous details this way >>>

A September 2008 study in The Journal of Sexuality Research and Social Policy found that the programs do not delay the onset of sexual activity by teenagers. The study questioned whether the federal government should be spending $1.5 billion annually on them. The Guttmacher Institute has a summary.

And a study by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, released in late December, shows that youth who take chastity pledges and partake of abstinence-only education will start sexual activity at the same time as their religious and conservative peers, only they are much less likely to engage in behavior to protect from unwanted pregnancies or sexual transmitted infections.

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Michigan is one of 25 states that continue to receive and pursue the Title V grant money from the federal government. The other 25 states have rejected the money, citing studies that show abstinence-only education does not work.

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The money will go to the following groups: Catholic Charities West Michigan in Grand Rapids; Jackson County Health Department; District Health Department #2 in Clinton, Gratiot and Montcalm counties; District Health Department #4 in Alpena, Cheboygan, Montmorency and Presque Isle counties; South Side Community Coalition in Lansing; St. John Investment Corporation in Detroit; The Yuinon, Inc., in Detroit; the Tuscola Intermediate School District and Wedgwood Christian Services in Grand Rapids.

This enrages me! Funding for education and police departments across the U.S. have been cut drastically over the last year, and we’re bailing out rich bankers, crooked auto-makers, and endorsing a sex-ed approach that will end up costing us more in the end?!

January 20th Obama will be taking over the Oval Office, and all I can say is that he has his work cut out for him. Hopefully America will change for the better.

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