Politicians shouldn't need the storied scalpel to slice away at abstinence-only funding -- the program is an unmitigated disaster, proven ineffective in study after study.  Sex education advocates are calling for a complete "zeroing out" of all abstinence-only funds -- those directly granting programs, through the Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) program, through the Adolescent Family Life Act, and through Title V, which sends block grants to states directly (it should tell you something about the unpopularity of the program that 16 states have turned down Title V funds even as state budgets reel).  Yesterday, Congressional Democrats took a tentative step towards eliminating the funding by cutting the CBAE budget by 13%, a $14 million reduction, in their 2009 spending bill.  That still leaves $95 million in taxpayer money swirling down the drain.

But advocates say that it's a step in the right direction, and that the 2010 budget, Obama's first, can include complete cuts.  "Any cut is a good first step," said Jen Heitel Yakush, Assistant Director of Policy at SIECUS.  In fact, the Senate had cut funding for CBAE by even more, $28.5 million; the House had level-funded it.  So the 2009 budget splits the difference.  "We recognize that the budget for fiscal year 09 was decided before the new political reality," says Heitel Yakush.  "We are still expecting Obama to take a lead on this issue.  We are looking for his first budget to zero out funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage."

"The reality is that we see it as some movement," says Marcela Howell, Vice-President of Advocates for Youth.  "We would have hoped for a stronger cut, but we're already almost through fiscal year 2009 and are looking to 2010.  That will be the new President's first budget."

CBAE, the largest abstinence-only funding stream, may be the hardest to kill off.  Title V, which issues block grants directly to states, is set to expire in June of 2009, and advocates hope it won't be reauthorized.  The Adolescent Family Life Act, the first abstinence-only program -- born of opposition to the family planning provisions to Title X -- is the smallest stream of funding, and was flat funded this year.

Eliminating abstinence-only funding is only half the battle, however, say advocates.  They are also looking for Obama to take a leadership role in pushing funding of comprehensive sexuality education, as he promised during his campaign.  Rep. Barbara Lee and Sen. Frank Lautenberg have committed to reintroducing the REAL Act in this session, which would allocate funding for states to teach age-appropriate, medically-accurate sex ed.

Both Title V and the REAL Act, which would authorize funding for comprehensive sex ed programs, are in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, who has shown himself to be an ardent opponent of abstinence-only.  Waxman commissioned the first Congressional hearings on abstinence-only in April of 2008.