Abstinence-Only Education Is Back

Not only did the Senate Finance Committee kill the public option yesterday, they voted to restore funding to federal abstinence-only sex education programs, despite overwhelming evidence that kids who receive such instruction tend to have sex earlier and get knocked up at younger ages.

A Senate committee voted Tuesday night to restore $50 million a year in federal funding for abstinence-only education that President Barack Obama has pushed to eliminate. The 12-11 vote by the Senate Finance Committee came over objections from its chairman, Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana. Two Democrats — Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas — joined all 10 committee Republicans in voting "yes" on the measure by Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. The measure would still have to pass the full House and Senate. Hatch said abstinence education had been shown to work, though Baucus disagreed. Obama had proposed in his 2010 budget to direct money spent on abstinence-only education to broader teen pregnancy-reduction programs.

They should have called Bristol Palin as a witness.