Talking with people in the education field, you hear often that a lot of states aren’t thrilled with federal abstinence-only guidelines and curricula. They don’t work, they’re usually wrong, and they tie the hands of good teachers who want to educate students with reliable, accurate information.
But, at least until 2009, there’s not a whole lot states can do about it. Either they accept Bush’s abstinence-only mandate or they forfeit federal education dollars. Maine, to its enormous credit, has chosen the latter.
Maine has stopped accepting federal funds for an abstinence-based sex-education program, in part because federal guidelines do not allow any of the money to be used to teach so-called “safe sex” practices.
The decision by Gov. John Baldacci’s administration makes Maine only the third state in the country to turn down the federal money. It comes amid a national debate over whether the government should promote only abstinence or provide young people with information about birth control and other aspects of sexual activity.
Maine accepted federal abstinence funds annually from 1998 through last year. But state officials said Monday the state did not apply for $165,000 in funds during the current federal fiscal year and it will not seek $161,000 that is available for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
Dr. Dora Anne Mills, the state’s public-health director, said Maine could not legally provide “comprehensive information” on sexual health to young people under the administration’s guidelines, so Maine was left with little choice.
Mills said teen pregnancy rates and teen abortion rates in Maine have dropped substantially, so the state does not need the federal funds anyway. And the fact that the federal government’s guidelines say sex should be limited to marriage makes it hard to educate young people who are gay or lesbian, she said.
“This money is more harmful than it is good,” Mills said. “You can’t talk about comprehensive reproductive information.”
One can only hope other states can follow Maine’s lead on this.