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Sweet Sixteen: Arizona Turns Down Ab-Only Funds

By Lauren Bull

January 24, 2008 - 8:43am

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Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona announced last Friday at a luncheon sponsored by Planned Parenthood Arizona that she will soon reject federal funding for abstinence-only sexual education in her state.

Governor Napolitano plans to let the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services know that Arizona will reject this money unless the government removes the current restrictions and allows other sexual education topics to be taught.

Jeanine L'Ecuyer, Governor Napolitano's spokeswoman, explains the reasoning behind the decision:

"With the restrictions, unfortunately we're not able to give kids all the information they need. If you teach abstinence-only, you can't teach birth control and other information they need."

Arizona is joining a nationwide trend to reject Title V federal funding for abstinence-only programs. Planned Parenthood, along with numerous other groups throughout the nation, are urging states to reject this money and this proven-ineffective program. Whether it's a study that proves it or the stories of countless uninformed American teenagers who experience unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections- the results are not open to interpretation: Abstinence-only sexual education does not work and it is definitely not a one-size-fits-all solution for our youth.

States throughout the country have come out against these programs and affirmed that their youth need comprehensive sexual education that includes contraceptive methods, sexually transmitted infection prevention, and medically accurate information.

Whether it's Virginia in the South, Massachusetts in the North, Minnesota in the Midwest, California in the West, or now Arizona in the Southwest, state governments and Americans throughout the country are uniting on this issue. The message is clear: help us protect our youth and give them the information they need to be safe and responsible.


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14 comments
Abstinence only funding
Excellent points Lauren. I can only hope that other states rethink their abstinence only programs and realize how important comprehensive sexual education is to our youth.
Submitted by Carol I on January 24, 2008 - 11:01am.
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Refusing Funding for Abstinence Only Education
This is SUCH GREAT NEWS! I hadn't heard of the trend for states to turn down AO Sexuality Education, but am delighted to now be informed. As a teacher of the OWL curriculum (Our Whole Lives: http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/ourwhole/)for 7-9th graders at my Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Colorado, I have been witness to the empowerment that comes to young people who receive comprehensive information, not only about the physiology of sex and the facts about pregnancy and STI's, but also the opportunity to learn about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and a safe place to discuss values, relationships, dating, masturbation...and the myriad other topics contained in our 27-week curriculum. I would love to see a similar course offered in 7th grade at all our public middle schools; I think you would see the rate of teen pregnancy and STI's drop dramatically in just a few years.
Submitted by Margaret Pevec on January 24, 2008 - 1:04pm.
Interesting to see how you
Interesting to see how you don't have any faith in our young people to abstain from having sex until marriage.
Submitted by Anonymous on January 25, 2008 - 9:05am.
why should they have faith when there's so much money at stake?
Why should the people who blog on this website have faith in young people to abstain, when there's so much money to be made on abortions? Let's not forget that the people who run this website are associated with the Guttmacher Institute, which has clear ties to Planned Parenthood, who in turn makes billions of dollars in profit from the deaths of innocent babies (abortions). So not only do they want to encourage young people to have lots and lots of sex, but also want to encourage young people to use inneffective condoms (which they tout so much) to then abort the babies once they get pregnant. It's simple capitalism. Sell them sex, then sell them a way out. No surprise there.
Submitted by Anonymous on January 25, 2008 - 9:34am.
Ugh!
Please prove to me, with facts rather than with foaming at the mouth, that Planned Parenthood is making immense profits from abortion. They have their financial information right on their website, and it looks to me that if we're going purely on medical expenses / health center income, without other sources of funding PPFA would be 203 million dollars in the hole over the 2005-2006 fiscal year alone. If abortions are really so profitable, why would they need contributions and grants just to stay afloat? I mean, come on now. They're a 501(c)3 organization, and you know if they were making profits, which is strictly against the law, an anti-choice organization would have brought them down by now. There's enough hate directed their way that it would have happened.
Submitted by Airina on January 27, 2008 - 10:26pm.
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Technically, a non-profit
Technically, a non-profit organization/corporation can make profits. The difference between a for-profit and non-profit company is that a for-profit one exists to make money, whereas the not-for-profit exists with the ability to make money (without that being its main focus). So while a non-profit organization may not be making shareholders wealthy, it might be amassing its own internalized wealth, while still retaining its non-profit status.
Submitted by Vegan on January 28, 2008 - 12:25am.
No reason at all to lack
No reason at all to lack faith in something with a 95% failure rate. Certainly no indication that revised methods might be called for. Nope.
Submitted by Cactuar on January 28, 2008 - 1:43pm.
Interesting to see what
Interesting to see what "faith" has gotten us: 95% of the population has sex before marriage, a statistic practically unchanged for the last 80 years; A near constant 50% unintended pregnancy rate for the last 60 years; Sexually transmitted diseases which now kill; and 1.2 million abortions/year for 35 years. Yes, faith seems to be working out real well.
Submitted by Stacey on January 28, 2008 - 6:26pm.
More support for Stacey,

I want to say that wanting to have sex before marriage isn't the same as the imaginary fear of having sex "around the clock". Many of us have no intention of waiting till the wedding day, and we're still virgins. But we are virgins who are learning, rather than avoiding, information about sex, the pleasures, the risks, and how the maximize the former while cutting the latter.

Submitted by Harry834 on January 28, 2008 - 6:41pm.
Moreover,

When demanding abstinence before marriage, we are not just demanding of teens, we are demanding of adults. There actually was an attempt by the government to give abstinence-only ed to 20-29 year olds.

You're going to tell a 26 year old not to have sex? Good luck with that.

Marriage is a monumental lifetime decision. We'd understand if most of us would rather not postpone sexual experience till the wedding day.

And course the talk of waiting is useless advice to gay people who can't get married.

Submitted by Harry834 on January 28, 2008 - 6:46pm.
Good for Arizona
This is not about faith, it is not about Planned Parenthood! This is about our young people. Abstinence is a wonderful method of birth control! It is 100% effective. It is a great thing to teach. I remember an old joke (pre-60s) that said "What are people who practice abstinence? Answer: Parents. Let us empower our young people with complete knowledge, let us empower them with complete awareness. Let us provide them with the tools they need at an age-appropriate time. Then let us expect their parents, and their churches to teach them the moral code they need to live their lives. I hope our government will give up the attitude that abstinence-only education is adequate protection for all of our young people.
Submitted by JudithTMart on January 30, 2008 - 10:19am.
Good for Arizona
Abstinence 100% effective? Didn't do Mary much good.
Submitted by Anonymous on February 9, 2008 - 8:28pm.
It is always interesting to
It is always interesting to read comments made by "abstinence only" folks. Not only is it vitrolic and hateful stuff, it is full inaccurate distortions as well. One has to wonder about the sexual and pyschological problems of an individual so rabidly concerned about the sexual and moral practices of everyone else. Why the obsessive insistance that no sex before marriage is the only valid viewpoint when all evidence is to t he contrary? Moreover, attempting to force that viewpoint on everyone else by what ever underhanded means necessary is replusive and undermines any claim to the moral high ground these people might tenuously have. Accurate information is the best weapon against unintended pregnancy and those so called "profitable" abortions. It would be a fine idea if prudes in this nation got their noses out of everyone else's intimate sexual business and straightened out their own considerable personal issues. People will have sex and that is none of the religous right's damned business.
Submitted by Anonymous on January 30, 2008 - 1:51pm.
I have faith in young
I have faith in young people. I have faith that when they choose to have sex before marriage, as I did at 17 (and am still doing at 22) they will be smart enough to be safe and protected. Unfortunately my faith is contingent upon the fact of others allowing them to get this information. Sadly, I do not have faith in those people. I am now on the verge of getting engaged and married. I have had few partners and have not regretted any of them. Thankfully, my mom put me on birth control when I was 16 (a full year before I chose to have sex for the first time) and I had been educated about why using condoms was a requirement as opposed to an option, those experiences did not result in any ill consequences. Thank God my mom and state were smart enough to educate me, so when it came time to make MY decision about sex, it was a safe and educated one.
Submitted by Emilee on January 30, 2008 - 3:26pm.