Last month the IR printed an editorial by Tom Teepen in which he castigated President Bush for foolishly spending millions of dollars uselessly on Abstinence Education.

Teepen went on to point out in unnamed "studies" that Abstinence Education had failed.

First, in 1995 Congress passed Title V funding for Abstinence Education. The bill was signed by President Clinton. It provided 50 million dollars over a five year period which becomes 10 million a year and actually amounted to $1.33 per student. Not what one could consider a large amount. It had been renewed and even increased over the years until now. Speaker Pelosi is trying to stop all Abstinence Ed. funding at this time. Governor Schweitzer blocked all abstinence education in Montana shortly after taking office. This is because of great pressure from the pro abortionists (Planned Parenthood), NARAL and NOW and Focus on Kids who had applied great political and financial pressure on the Democrats. The National Education Association (the teachers union) has long promoted gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender education in our public schools grades K-12. This is wildly supported by our equally liberal and pro homosexual Office of Public Instruction going back to the reign of Nancy Keenan. In 2002, the government spent 653 million on contraceptive programs for teens and 144 million was spent on abstinence education. When all the comprehensive sex ed, contraception, condom and planned parenthood monies the government spends is taken into account it is more like 10 dollars for liberal sex programs as compared to one dollar spent on abstinence programs.

In reality, comprehensive sex education is nothing more than "safe sex" programs wrapped in a label. They spend little time on abstinence and the overwhelming focus is on encouraging teens to have sex and use condoms. Basically, they are saying it is OK for teens to have sex as long as they use condoms. Their curriculum includes "eroticizing condom use with your partner," "think up sexual fantasy using condoms" and "hide a condom on your body and ask your partner to find it," etc. The curriculum of Focus on Kids includes ways of being close, as bathing together, body massage, reading and watching erotic (pornographic) material together.

Parents overwhelmingly support the values and messages of true abstinence education. Polls have shown that up to 91 percent of parents want teens to be taught that sex should wait till marriage. The same 91 percent want schools to teach that teens be expected to abstain during high school years. In schools where abstinence education has been taught, STD's and pregnancy rates have dropped. This is just another case wherein the liberals completely ignore the vast majority of voters to inject their destructive "morals" into our lives at the expense of our otherwise great society.

William D. Wise of 10 Wallace Road in Clancy is a retired physician.