The House unexpectedly voted down a vital appropriations conference report for the Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education Departments on Thursday, November 17.  This surprised GOP leaders and disappointed abstinence proponents because the bill earmarked over $100 million for abstinence education funding.

Concerned Women for America’s (CWA’s) Director of Government Relations Lanier Swann said of the vote: “We are not going to give up; young people in America deserve to be taught the whole truth about sexual activity and the great benefits of abstinence.  We are back at square one on this issue, but we will continue to fight for the funding of abstinence programs.”

CWA and other abstinence supporters had expended much effort to insure that sufficient funds were provided for the programs and that language undermining them was not added to the report.

Concern ran high that an amendment by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey), which attached a “medical accuracy” clause to the Community Based Abstinence Education program, would be included to greatly weaken HHS’s ability to fund abstinence programs.  Abstinence supporters opposed the amendment, which would have created an unrealistic standard for the curriculum.

The Lautenberg language was not included in the final conference report, and abstinence proponents were optimistic about the appropriations until Thursday’s vote.

Abstinence education programs have proven effective and beneficial, and they have done so with limited funding.  President Bush, a supporter of abstinence funding, called for $250 million for it in 2005, but the conference report included only $114.5 million; $653 million will be spent on condom-based education.

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