The Orbis

Issue date: 2/27/02 Section: Undefined Section

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When President George W. Bush submitted his annual budget to Congress earlier this month, he included a provision that would increase funding for abstinence-only sexual education by 33 percent.

Bush made the increase to fulfill a campaign pledge to increase the amount of money spent on abstinence-only programs and to counter sexual education programs that introduce adolescents to birth control methods. Controversy has arisen on both sides of the issue.

According to the Associated Press, the budget proposes that $135 million be spent on abstinence-only education programs, an increase of $33 million over what was spent on such programs this year.

This additional $33 million will be distributed to state governments in the form of Health and Human Service grants. In order to receive these grants, however, states must have sexual education programs that teach the value of abstinence and do not discuss the merits of contraceptive use.

When the president makes budget requests to Congress, the House Committee on Appropriations decides on the manner in which the president's proposals will be converted into legislation in the form of appropriations bills. These bills are then heard and voted on by the House of Representatives.

According to Vanderbilt professor of political science John Geer, it is unlikely that Bush's request for increased abstinence education funding will be passed by both houses of Congress, despite his high national approval ratings.

"While Bush has significant clout in dealing with this issue, his stratospheric approval rating has not always translated into legislative success," said Geer. "For this particular piece of legislation, it is likely to pass in the House, but not in the Senate because the Senate is controlled by the Democrats."

Geer said that Bush will nonetheless lobby strongly for his legislation, "because his promise will placate conservatives and he did promise to do it."

The Bush Administration's high interest in the issue ensures that it will remain heavily debated. Here at Vanderbilt, some students feel strongly about the issue.

According to Jen Howard, vice president of the Women's Studies Club, abstinence-only programs are not in the interest of students.

"By giving adolescents their options, you are not encouraging sexual activity," said Howard. "If they are not taught properly, they will receive their education from questionable sources: their peers, media and movies."

Abstinence-only programs, moreover, put college students at a disadvantage, according to Howard.

"Students will be able to enter college more confidently and enter into dating relationships more easily if they know all their options when it comes to safe sex," said Howard. "The pressure to drink and party and have sex at Vanderbilt, combined with an ignorance of birth control options, would be disastrous for college freshmen."

Dan Eberhart, president of the Vanderbilt College Republicans disagreed.

"It is too complicated an issue and depends too much on individual circumstances to say that either 'abstinence-only' or 'birth control' methods of sexual education are the most effective," said Eberhart. "For instance, abstinence programs work much better when taught in a religious program from an early age than when taught in an economically depressed urban high school to latchkey kids who have already had sex."

Eberhart added, "Abstinence programs seek to limit the amount of sex for many reasons other than merely stopping pregnancies among teens, such as preventing the spread of STDs, preventing the emotional drain of being sexually active and keeping teens focused on school.

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