An end to abstinence-only funding?!

Ben Smith at Politico is reporting today that there's a passage in the president's proposed budget for 2010 that hasn't gotten much coverage yet: an end to Title V Community Based Abstinence Education, which I'm pretty sure is basically the lifeblood of Leslee's abstinence operation.


Happily, as Ben points out, abstinence-only "education" will be replaced with education programs that are...oh, you know...medically accurate:

The 2010 Budget proposes a new Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative to support community-based and faith-based efforts to reduce teen pregnancy using evidence-based and promising models. In addition, a new Strengthening Communities Fund will help build the capacity of non-profit organizations and State, Local and Tribal entities to better serve low-income and disadvantaged populations. This Budget also proposes funding for (1) a new child welfare initiative, and (2) a human services case management system for Federally-declared disasters. This Budget eliminates funding for Community-Based Abstinence Education, the mandatory Title V Abstinence Education program, the Compassion Capital Fund, and Rural Community Facilities.

(emphasis mine)


As we've seen with lifting the stem cell ban, reversing the Mexico City policy, and the FDA approving access to Plan B for 17-year-olds, science once again rightly trumps ideology in the Obama administration. Love it.


Update: Remember Derek the Abstinence Clown? On Twitter today: Derek the Abstinence Clown was just spotted in the unemployment line..

Now that's progress.