Abstinence Only…What Now?

I guess we could say that we let down our guard.

April 2007 brought us the long awaited Mathematica study which put a federal stamp on what we already knew: Abstinence only education does not work to change young people’s behavior. In the wake of that study, Democrats promised to pull the plug on abstinence only funding. Hooray! Finally, we thought, they get it! Not so fast. Although they did pull the funding for abstinence only under Title V, they increased the funding for Community Based Abstinence Education, (CBAE) which falls under a bill known as Labor-H.

How did this happen? Both of these programs share the same curriculum guidelines. If Title V is a waste of money, so is CBAE. Nonetheless, CBAE will get $141 million, up from $109 million in 2007.

Regarding the curriculum, federally funded abstinence programs must teach the “the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity"-regardless of whether those gains are real. Programs must also teach that “that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects”. CBAE grantees do not have the option of leaving out a core tenet if they don’t find enough evidence to support it. All eight of the core tenets must be taught and cannot be combined with any other curriculum.

So what now? The bottom line is that CBAE has been funded and those funds are difficult for states to resist. Nonetheless, ten states have resisted and turned away funding for programs that are proven to be harmful to the physical well being of our youth. We need more states to follow suit and take a stand against a policy that is putting our youth in harm’s way.

What can you do to speak out against abstinence only education? First and foremost, if you are from one of the ten states that have rejected abstinence only funding (CA, CT, OH, ME, MA, MT, NJ, RI, WA, WI), contact your Governor and thank him or her for taking a stand against this form of educational blackmail. If your state does accept this funding, contact your Governor directly and tell him or her to reject these funds based on the evidence that these programs are ineffective and harmful. Your voice makes a difference. Although Congress has disappointed us by supporting and funding this program, we can still make a difference by encouraging each individual state to reject it.

SCHIP - At What Cost?

Children’s advocates were stunned last week when President Bush downplayed the importance of health insurance for children: “I mean, people have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room.”—President George W. Bush (Cleveland, 7/10/07).

Well, yes, you could. But would that be the best solution? In fact, in 2007, researchers from BYU and Arizona State found that kids who drop out of SCHIP, (the State Children’s Health Insurance Program) end up costing states more money by more frequent use of costly emergency rooms (ER). The conclusion of the study is that an attempt to limit funding for SCHIP could create a false savings because other government organizations, at the taxpayer’s expense, pay for the children with no health insurance.

This begs the question: Who is the current administration protecting? Evidently it is not the 9 million uninsured children in the United States. More likely, it is the privatized health insurance industry. What is the cost to a parent waiting in an ER for ten hours with a three year old who has a 104+ temperature?  Should we burden our ER’s with the overly costly care of colds, flu and mild allergies, rather than reserving them for those suffering acute trauma who need this special care?

There is a solution. The solution is SCHIP. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is a national program designed for families who earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid, yet cannot afford to buy private insurance. The program was created to address the growing problem of children in the United States without health insurance. SCHIP covered 6.9 million children at some point during Federal fiscal year 2006 and every state has an approved state plan.

The current issue at hand is that SCHIP needs to be reauthorized by September 30, 2007.  While Senate Republicans and Democrats scramble to support our children by increasing the funding by $35 billion over five years, President Bush has vowed to veto the Senate compromise and a more costly expansion being contemplated in the House. “I support the initial intent of the program,” Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. “My concern is that when you expand eligibility . . . you’re really beginning to open up an avenue for people to switch from private insurance to the government.”

But our poorest children can’t afford private insurance. The fact remains that they are not covered, and the solution is....to go to the emergency room? As child advocates we need to use our voices for our youngest citizens. Tell Congress that anything less than 100% health coverage for all children is unacceptable. Send the message that you care about children and youth. Make an impact today! Tell your Senators or Representative how you feel about the reauthorization of SCHIP.