Abstinence Education In Texas To Take A Hit

Photo by kyz

Hey kids, break out the condoms!! All those millions of dollars in abstinence education -- as we all know, the only thing keeping you from having sex -- is going away!

Not all of it, to be honest. But more than half.

The Legislative Budget Board told a House committee in Austin this morning that Texas can expect to lose at least $9.8 million in federal abstinence-education funds this year. Texas spent more than any other state last year on abstinence education -- about $17 million -- but no matter how you slice it, losing $10 million has to hurt.

"The LBB's best guess is that the funding will not be renewed under the Obama administration," reports the Texas Observer's Floor Pass blog.

Of course, Texas is still planning to spend over a million in its own tax money to fund abstinence programs.
We can only imagine all the kids in high school (and middle school!) who will now randomly engage in kinky sex with strangers all because they have not been inspired by some teacher to "save it for marriage."

Where will the children learn? (About hypocrisy, we mean, if you take into account the sex lives of many of the legislators and activists who push for these things. And about being bored out of your wits in an abstinence class, not to mention astounded by the fantasyworld these courses apparently believe exists.)

Houston's Ellen Cohen, a member of the sub-committee that heard the report, asked why the state should spend the $1.1 million on abstinence.

Hey, if budgets need to be slashed....

-- Richard Connelly