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| Photo Credit: hipposrunsuperfast |
Sometime this month, an updated
list of “evidence-based” teen pregnancy prevention programs was endorsed
by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and posted to the website of the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH).
No
notice, not even a press release to announce the addition of three
programs to the coveted list of 28 deemed effective and carrying the HHS
seal of approval. Until now, this list was the holy grail of the
Administration’s commitment to a science-based approach to teen
pregnancy prevention and a directive for grantees of the President’s
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI).
So why the secrecy about the new additions? What does the Administration have to hide?
Because one of the "new" programs is actually an old, dis-proven and dangerous abstinence-only-until-marriage program.
We
have been around long enough to expect politics as usual in Washington,
D.C. The backroom deals and secrecy should not surprise us. The
jettisoning of young people and their sexual health for political
expediency is not new. But, this blatant hypocrisy needs to stop. This
latest example is just too much.
Perhaps
the Administration realized that the inclusion of Heritage Keepers
Abstinence Education on this select list would call into question its
commitment to young people and their sexual health. Once again, they
have succumbed to the political pressure of social conservatives and
allowed the ideology of the right to prevail over the health and
well-being of the nation’s youth. READ MORE
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