Who are you sleeping with tonight?
If you’re single and between the ages of 19 and 29, the government wants you to know you should be by yourself. According to USA Today, the government is expanding its abstinence-only sex education program to reach not only adolescents, but also adults within this demographic. But here’s the kicker: this new focus makes “millions of dollars in federal money available to states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.”Our tax dollars are going to be spent to tell adults what they should and should not do with each other in bed. I’m so glad I pay the feds thousands of dollars per year to support programs like this, that have had such great success among the malleable minds of America’s youth (yes, I meant to be that sarcastic).
Under these revised guidelines, which the government is calling a reminder to states that these programs (the only sex education curriculum approved by the Bush administration) do not only have to focus on youth, states are urged "to identify groups... most likely to bear children out-of-wedlock, targeting adolescents and/or adults within the 12- through 29-year-old age range."The goal of this revision, it seems, is not to prevent the spread of AIDS or other STDs, but to make sure there are fewer babies born out of wedlock. The article quotes Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at the Department of Health and Human Services, as saying the revision is aimed at 19- to 29-year-olds because more unmarried women in that age group are having children.
"The message is 'It's better to wait until you're married to bear or father children,'" Horn said. "The only 100% effective way of getting there is abstinence."
Let me get this straight: first the government wants to tell us when it’s okay to have sex and then it wants to tell us when it’s okay to have kids. What’s next? A list of acceptable positions? I think this line of thought is ridiculous and another example of government policy trying to regulate morality for several reasons. First of all, marriage is not that all-holy institution it used to be. The Census Bureau recently reported married couples are now the minority in America, albeit a slight minority. The reason for the decline? Increased numbers of younger couples cohabitating instead of tying the knot, and often waiting longer to do so when they feel they’re ready.
Article comments
1 - Arch Conservative
So what do you prefer we do with government funds Robin? Give more to planned parenthood in addtion to the hundreds of millions we give them now so they can lie to undergae girls about state laws, oppose the rights of parents to know thier daughter is having an abortion, and murder yet more babies?
Would that make you happy?
2 - Bliffle
How about we just stop using federal money to tell people how to conduct their private lives.
3 - Robin Kavanagh
What would make me happy is to see my tax money paying for programs that actually work and create a benefit to society, not the vanity of the religious right that feels they need to turn everyone into the good little Christians they wish they could be.
But again, you miss the point of my article. The issue is not about the horrendous
inaccuracy and consequences of abstinence-only education or your personal politics; it's about the government wasting money trying to tell you what to do in your personal life. I thought conservatives advocated for less government?
4 - Jet in Columbus
Oh but that's only the beginning, before you knowing it they'll be forcing jewish kids to say christian grace before eating in the cafeteria at public schools.
5 - Joan Hunt
I'm not necessarily "outing" myself as a Republican, merely clarifying it before I say this:
The government does not belong in our bedrooms. The government, our neighbors, and anyone else we choose not to share our personal, sexual lives with should not concerns themselves with what goes on between consenting adults in private.
Notice my choice of words. Consenting. Adults. Private. Nobody but those involved should have any say in the matter.
I believe this is true for what happens in a doctor's office as well.
What do we do to reduce unwanted pregnancies and the spread of disease? Educate. Educate everyone and stop pretending sex isn't going occur if we don't talk about it in realistic terms.
You can't outlaw biology, nor can you mandate "morality". It's time to stop pretending, throw the blinders to the wind, and deal with reality in terms everyone can understand.
6 - Derek Ennenga
I have never had sex and probably never will so i don't know.
Prior Lake, MN