Sex vs. Chastity: They Can’t Get Along, So They’re Gonna Get It On!

Washington won’t be getting a federal grant to teach abstinence only sex education, reports the Seattle PI:

OLYMPIA -- The Bush administration is cutting off funding for abstinence-only sex education in Washington because this state now requires schools to provide additional, medically accurate information about preventing unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

Up until this year, the state has received an annual $800,000 federal grant for abstinence-only sex education. The money was used to produce and air public service announcements as well as developing abstinence-only curriculums for schools.

It’s worth noting that this is really only a drop in the bucket—this year’s grant would have only been about $200k, the article goes on to say—but every little bit helps.

Be sure to read the comments section for the article as well. Lots of Bush-bashing, but when you get past that it’s a good microcosm of the overall debate.

More statewide reaction:

An editorial from the Vancouver Columbian.
Background from the Seattle Times.
A different editorial, from the Everett Herald.

And earlier I Thought a Think posts here and here.