Good news for abstinence funding—maybe

The U.S. Congress has passed a bill that includes a one-year extension of Title V Abstinence Education funding. The problem is, there are some things in the bill that President Bush is unhappy with and it’s possible he will veto it. You can get more details by checking out the story entitled, Bill Would Extend Abstinence Funding, on the North Carolina Family Policy Council web site.

Reborn Virgin Women

A woman now living in Cary, North Carolina says practicing abstinence helped her find a husband. Cat Lewis was 35 and living in San Francisco at the time. She’d tried the traditional dating scene, which included sex with a lot of men, and it left her empty and empty handed. She decided to give abstinence a try and found a meaningful relationship and marriage within a year. Her story is featured in an article in the Cary News, entitled, Abstinence Made Her Heart Grow Fonder. She’s written a book about her appreciation for the value of practicing abstinence at any age. It’s called Reborn Virgin Women. You can also visit Cat’s web site at www.rebornvirgin.com to learn more and to get some practical tips on why abstinence works.

The heat turned up on Planned Parenthood

It seems that I spend a great deal of time linking to the Family Research Council (FRC) web site these days. There is good reason. They are putting a lot of energy into talking about abstinence related topics. Those of you who have been following this blog for a while, know that, in the early days, I spent a great deal of time arguing against federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The fact that the organization’s profits are so intertwined with abortion disqualifies them as an unbiased party when it comes to advising young people what to do with an unplanned pregnancy. You can read that post and download the paper, I wrote on that, Planned Parenthood: Federalizing an Ideology, by clicking here.

FRC is raising the temperature on the issue by circulating a petition calling for a halt to any Title X federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s (and world’s) largest abortion provider. You can read about that by clicking here.

True love revolution

I just found a great new web site started by some Harvard University students. It’s called True Love Revolution and it’s all about why it’s important for college students—even college students at Ivy League schools—to wait for marriage to have sex.

The group hosts speakers on campus such as Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D., who tackle the topic “Smart Sex: Finding Life-long Love in a Hook-up World,” then rolls the messages to podcasts and downloadable audio so they can be listened to anytime. There are similar groups on other campuses such as Princeton, MIT, and Arizona State University.

The New York Times ran an article on the movement on college campuses. It’s called Students of Virginity by Randall Patterson (March 30, 2008). Check it out!

Thanks to Jackson Moore for his tip on this story.

Condom goal falls far short

First, let me apologize for a lapse in posting the past few weeks. I have started a new job with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina as the new Creative Team Leader. I’m still taking graduate level classes in Communication at NC State University so life has been full. I’m sure you know what that’s like.

Anyway, a quote in a recent article by the Family Research Council entitled, Condom Culture’s Trojan Horse, jolted me back into the blogging mode. The statement? “About one in every five teens using condoms becomes pregnant within one year, according to the National Survey of Family Growth.” That means, even on the occasion that condom education induces teens to use condoms, they still, on average, get pregnant 20% of the time within one year. That’s rather amusing considering the constant attacks by condom promoters which suggest that abstinence education is not effective.

Read the entire story, which exposes the falacies in a recent full-page ad that Trojan condom company ran in major newspapers recently.

What Planned Parenthood thinks kids should know

If you’ve never checked out the Planned Parenthood web site for teens, you should take a look. It will give you a jolt of a wake up call in regards to what this organization and supporters of “Comprehensive Sexuality Education” (CSE) think our school-aged children need to know. Click here to do some investigating on Teenwire. Just be warned that the content if very explicit.

HPV linked to throat cancer

We’ve heard quite a bit about HPV and its link to cervical cancer. However, recent studies show that HPV can also cause throat cancer for those who engage in oral sex. As a matter of fact, HPV may be a higher risk factor than smoking for oropharyngeal cancer (back of throat/base of tongue area). Thanks to Wait4YourMate blog which has this story today. To see an indepth article about the research, you can click on this story from WebMD Medical News.

ABC program getting rave reviews in Africa

According to a Family Research Council (FRC) article today, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is getting rave reviews this week as President Bush tours through Africa. PEPFAR is also dubbed ABC (Abstinence, Be faithful, if you don’t do those, use a Condom) because of its emphasis on Abstinence first. The article states, “With approval ratings well into the 80th percentile in nations like Kenya and Ghana, the President’s popularity is a true testament to the contribution that America’s generosity has made to the health and safety of the African people.”

Meanwhile, Congress is considering stripping the Abstinence component from PEPFAR. “When the PEPFAR comes up for reauthorization on February 28, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.)–Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee–will make every effort to strip the ABC model from the bill in favor of money for abortion providers and promoters.”

You can read the entire article and what effects this would have on U.S. policy regarding AIDS overseas, by clicking here.

President Bush fights to keep abstinence in ABC

President Bush is in Tanzania today imploring Congress to renew his AIDS initiative which includes an earmark that steers a portion of that money into abstinence education programs in foreign countries.

Presidential candidates on abstinence education

According to the web site Women’s News on November 11, 2007, here are the stands that the remaining presidential candidates are taking on abstinence education.