Next up on the Good News front, our only President has actually done a couple of good things this week.For one thing, over the course of something over two decades, the US has sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into so-called "abstinence-only" programs as part of programs to reduce teenage pregnancies. It has done this even though it has been known for just about as long that they don't work.
The Obama administration was not immune to this; not only did such programs continue, in 2012 HHS added a new abstinence-only curriculum to its list of approved programs for teenage pregnancy prevention.
But now, in his final year, President Hopey-Changey has apparently evolved on another issue and in his final proposed federal budget he eliminates all funding for abstinence-only programs while increasing funding for the evidence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program and the CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health.
In the grand scheme of things I suppose it's a small entry - especially given that the rate of teen pregnancy has been dropping pretty steadily for 20 years and in 2014 it was only 40% of the rate in 1991 - but it still is a good thing and so good news.
Sources cited in links:
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2005/03/be-careful-what-you-wish-for.html
http://www.siecus.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=523&parentID=477
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2004/11/we-dont-need-no-stinking-studies.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2007/04/another-success-story-in-keeping-us.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2012/05/left-side-of-aisle-55-part-4.html
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/15/1501670/-Pres-Obama-eliminates-abstinent-only-funding-in-2017-budget-adds-4m-to-teen-pregnancy-prevention
http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/teen-pregnancy/trends.html#
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