By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

The new FY2012 budget unveiled by the White House yesterday includes much steeper decreases in funding to abstinence education than to “Safe Sex” programs, confirming that the Administration’s priorities remain with the promotion of contraception-based programs.

LifeNews is reporting that in the $3.73 trillion budget released yesterday morning, the ratio of sex ed spending compared to spending on programs that encourage teens to remain sexually abstinence remains over 16-1.

The National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) told LifeNews that even though the House eliminated the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program in their FY2011 budget, which puts a significant share of its funding into contraception-centered programs, it missed an opportunity to restore some parity between “safe sex” and abstinence education funding. Even without the TPP, abundant federal funds are still being directed into programs that promote the use of contraception rather than abstinence.

“By not restoring abstinence education to the current budget, contraceptive-centered sex education remains the priority for the Federal Government,” the NAEA says.

“We are hopeful that either in FY11 or in FY12, the federal policy for sex education will reflect a priority on abstinence education by bringing proper balance to this important issue.”

Overseas programs that promote “family planning” services are also on the chopping block. The GOP is proposing that all funding to the UN’s Population Fund, known as UNFPA, be stopped. The UNFPA is suspected of being complicit in China’s one-child abortion program. Conservatives are also planning to reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which was repealed by Executive Order by President Obama shortly after he took office in 2009. This policy prevents family planning funds from going to any overseas organization that also promotes abortion.

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