This raises the question ; how prevalent is such endorsement of failed public health policies, based on junk science, among those Washington DC political consultants advising the Democratic Party ? During over a decade of "abstinence-only" sex ed in Texas, that state has performed close to the worst, as compared to all other US states, at lowering rates of teen pregnancy and in reducing STD rates.

In effect, the Democrats who have supported the increase in "abstinence-only-until-marriage" program funding under CBAE have chosen to accept, for political expedience, higher than necessary teen STD and pregnancy rates.

Like Waggoner, the Rev. Deborah Haffner, head of the Religious Institute On Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing showed similar outrage, in a post entitled "And The Little Children Shall Suffer":

It feels like a Judas moment.

Yesterday, according to a press release from SIECUS,

"The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations decided to increase funding for the Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) grants despite overwhelming scientific evidence that the abstinence-only-until-marriage programs it supports do not work.

It was widely believed that the programs would be cut or eliminated by the new Congress, but by adding $27.8 million, the House Appropriations Committee is doing President Bush's bidding and providing $141 million in funding to CBAE. This is almost exactly what the President had requested, and appears to be a ploy by the Democratic majority designed to swing enough Republican votes to make the spending bill veto-proof."

In other words, the House DEMOCRATIC leadership has just INCREASED funding for ineffective, moralistic abstinence-only-until-marriage funding.

As James Waggoner puts it :

[continued from previously cited RH Reality Check article ] In one inglorious motion, the Democrats have sold the health and well-being of young people down the proverbial drain, delivered a public slap in the face to evidence-based public health, and made a mockery of their "prevention first" message.

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