California Editorial claims: Abstinence-only programs are waste of taxpayers' money

Here's the article

Mercury News Editorial
Article Launched: 12/07/2007 01:37:39 AM PST

President Bush has proudly increased the funding for abstinence-only sex education programs since taking office. He is pushing Congress for an additional $28 million for 2008 to add to the $175 million spent last year.

Now comes the news that for the first time in 14 years, the birthrate for American teenagers increased last year.

A coincidence? Only those who still believe in the stork think so.
The Bush administration should bear the blame for the inevitable consequences of the 3 percent increase in the teen birth rate: a growing number of teen moms who will not finish high school and who will likely end up on welfare.
Congress for too long has allowed the president to get away with a health-care policy based on ideology rather than science-based evidence. It needs to block further increases in funding for abstinence-only programs.

Teaching teens about the value of abstinence and how to deal with social pressures should be part of all sex education programs. But repeated studies show the most effective programs are those that promote abstinence while also providing contraceptive information.

Teens in Europe are as sexually active as those in the United States. But the teen birth rate in Europe is about half what it is here, in part because of the success of their comprehensive sex education programs.

Some 1 million American teens get pregnant every year, and roughly half of them are
17 or younger when they become pregnant. The chance of a teenage girl finishing high school after becoming pregnant is well under 50 percent.

At least California has proved it knows better. It was the first to decline the federal money for abstinence-only sex education. It will be interesting to see, when the numbers for each state are released, how California's teen birth rate compares with states that accepted federal money.
The ultimate responsibility for teenagers' behavior falls to teens themselves, and to the parents who raise them. But many children don't get much guidance from home, even in families with means. There is a public interest in preventing teen pregnancy because it leads to a drain on public services.
This country has an obligation to offer teens the best sex education programs available. That has to include teaching them about contraception in case they choose to become sexually active.

From my viewpoint overlooking the hundreds of thousands of visitors to http://thepregnancytest.com, I see that in spite of all the contraception handed out by Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion sex promoters, the facts are that an overwhelming 80% of my visitors report they do not use any protection when having sex. Abstinence programs do work as teens learn about the risks of teen sex. The reason for this editorial is really more about the fact the pro-abortion crowd can't stand to see Government funds flowing to their opposition, but even at $128 million thats barely 1/3 of the Government funding of Planned Parenthood. So before we say abstinence programs are a waste of tax payers money, why don't we first defund Planned Parenthood who is wasting 3x as much Government funding promoting contraceptives that according to their own internal records fail. Did you know that their own records indicate that 78% of contraceptive patients will become pregnant within one year? Do you know that that their goal is to convert every contraceptive patient today into tomorrow's abortion patient. They are masters of creating a problem, then conveniently providing a solution. This deception is enabled by the over $362 million tax-payer dollars they get every year. I think its time the funds dry up for Banned Parenthood.

me

New Baby Tax Proposed to Save the Planet

The article reads like this:

"Coming soon to a transnational progressive agenda near you:
Baby tax needed to save planet, claims expert.

A WEST Australian medical expert wants families to pay a $5000-plus “baby levy” at birth and an annual carbon tax of up to $800 a child.

Writing in today’s Medical Journal of Australia, Associate Professor Barry Walters said every couple with more than two children should be taxed to pay for enough trees to offset the carbon emissions generated over each child’s lifetime.

Professor Walters, clinical associate professor of obstetric medicine at the University of Western Australia and the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth, called for condoms and “greenhouse-friendly” services such as sterilisation procedures to earn carbon credits.

And he implied the Federal Government should ditch the $4133 baby bonus and consider population controls like those in China and India."
Source: Little Green Footballs 12/12/2007

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FROM WHERE I SEE IT: Professor Barry Walters like other socialist, marxist progressives and even Al Gore see human beings, especially babies as the 'PROBLEM' rather than the solution. I would rather the Government strip every penny of the nearly $400 million from Banned Parenthood and allow any pregnant mother to have the basic care and physical needs provided to insure a baby born will truly be given a fighting chance to live rather than allow some idiot like Walters to impose a transnational tax on human reproduction. Remember, for every problem there is a solution. To succeed in this life, focus on the solution not the problem.

Who would benefit from Walters plan? Let's assume there are 6 billion on the planet. If 3 Billion babies were born this year and taxed at $5000, thats a few trillion for some government agency is going to control not to mention the annual $800 x 3 billion I don't think families would be helped to live better lives by this mob-like tax. This world would be better off to have a healthy next generation to come behind the generation that is growing older. Abortion has already reduced America and much of Europe's population so that we cannot replenish our own population. For example, in America, right now 71 million baby boomers are about to face a crisis as they retire with only 41 million boomer busters are coming behind them to keep the nation rolling. Why the disparity? Because 9 men in 1972 legalized abortion giving rise to the global demise of the human population.