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On February 1, 2010, President Obama released his Fiscal Year 2011 budget request. On the domestic side, advocates saw increases for Presidential priorities of teen pregnancy prevention and HIV/AIDS, while on the international front, family planning, and reproductive health programs and maternal and child health programs received the largest increases as the budget outlined the Global Health Initiative announced last year.
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs
The President’s FY11 budget increased funding for the new teen pregnancy prevention initiative by $19.2 million, for a total of $133.7 million. Created last year, the teen pregnancy prevention initiative will make grants available “to public and private entities to fund medically accurate and age appropriate [sic] programs that reduce teen pregnancy.” Of the funding, $85 million is directed for “programs that replicate the elements of one or more teenage pregnancy prevention programs that have been proven through rigorous evaluation to delay sexual activity, increase contraceptive use (without increasing sexual activity), or reduce teenage pregnancy,” and $28 million for “develop, replicate, refine, and test additional models and innovative strategies for preventing teenage pregnancy.” The budget also includes funding for evaluation and technical assistance.
While advocates for more comprehensive approaches to sex education were pleased with the increase, particularly in a tight fiscal year, many felt that the administration missed an opportunity to provide true, comprehensive sex education that promotes healthy behaviors and relationships for all young people, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, by focusing the funding on teen pregnancy prevention, and not including the equally important health issues of STIs and HIV.
For more information about federal support for comprehensive sexuality education, visit SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, by clicking here.
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