Well, it was only a matter of time before this happened and most states realized that abstinence education falls on (mostly) deaf ears, and that this type of education and self respect coaching really occurs as it should, at a child’s home.  At least that’s my belief and you can refute it if you’d like.  Many states now are refusing to shell out grant money for abstinence education. 

Abstinenece education is really just programs that are designed to educate kids in their early years of the virtues of not getting into bed with anyone, aka not having sex until you’re ready and it means something, as in marriage for example.  Sure, this sort of education has moral and even religious undertones, but most parents would definitely like their kids to be on board with this sort of moral and self respectful value since there are so many risks of sex including pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, and not to mention the psychological effects sex can have on people who are not yet mature enough to handle the repercussions and emotion strings. 

The Bush administration was fairly big at offering federal grant money for these abstinence programs, but many states are pushing these offerings aside, because of the increasing skepticism that abstinence education even makes any difference at all in an adolescent’s decision making process and paradigms about premarital and early sexual activity.

Around 50 million bucks was actually budgeted for these programs this year alone, and you’d expect US states to be chomping at the bit to get their part of this, but most are convinced it does not do much good.  And most statistics do back this up.  Also, states, when they accept this grant money, have to also chip in a little of their own, reducing it’s appeal even further.

Some also feel that the teachings of abstaining are just too strict and are not realistic for today’s world, and instead should focus on first, choice, and second, on how to go about having the safest sex possible if you choose to do so in your teens.  Many states complained that the curriculum for these programs was just too strict and there wasn’t enough room for interpretation or state specific teachings to be worth it.  The whole abstinence program was started as part of a bid for welfare reform by the federal government and is now looking like it soon may be extinct.