.- The U.S. government has increased funding for the the Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) grant program by $11 million for 2006. Leslee Unruh, president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, told the Dakota Voice that the decision was “a victory for America's children.”
The increase was made to the appropriations bill by the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.
President George W. Bush had initially requested an increase of $39 million for abstinence education in his proposed budget. But Unruh said she is grateful for the $11-million increase in this year of fiscal restraint.
Unruh said the increased funding is “a clear mandate to improve the health of the next generation and abstinence education is the best way to do that."
The Abstinence Clearinghouse is a non-profit educational organization that promotes abstinence through distribution of age-appropriate and medically accurate materials.
