Posted by
johnfw on Friday, May 02, 2008 10:52:00 AM
"... the government spends over $1 billion each year promoting contraception and safe-sex education -- 12 times what it spends on abstinence education."
Consider the numbers million and billion. About a million new illegal aliens in the country each year. They cost us taxpayers billions of dollars. About a million abortions a year. They cost taxpayers billions. A million kids born to single moms. They cost us billions. Why are we forced to pay for the illegal and/or irresponsible actions and behavior of others?
I'll leave the topic of illegal aliens aside for now to focus on the topic of the cited article--comprehensive sex education vs. abstinence education. I'll include abortion since that's one of the consequences of failed sex ed programs.
An aside before getting to the main point--we won't pay. The abstinence sex ed promoters might make better progress if they would push abstinence first rather than abstinence only. Advocating one extreme or the other is not as successful as a compromise position.
Abortion as birth control. Here's a thought--use condoms instead, they're cheaper. And we shouldn't have to pay for those either. Besides the fact that many consider abortion immoral, it is also unethical, undemocratic, and unfair to make us all pay for abortions. We need legislation that will place the responsibility for the costs of abortion where it belongs. Those choosing abortion should have to pay for the procedure out of their own pocket. They should not be able to use medical insurance either since that drives up the costs of health care for all of us. Teens, especially, and their parents might become more responsible if they know they are faced with the expenses instead of taking care of "the problem" with taxpayer money.
Children born to single mothers. Again, why should taxpayers carry the burden of the consequences of irresponsible behavior, especially among teens? If comprehensive sex ed and/or abstinence sex ed fail to teach responsibility, hitting the pocket book of the teens and their parents might do the trick. We need legislation that stipulates that the father of a child born to a single mother must bear 50% of the costs of the child (or the abortion, if that's chosen, and until abortion as birth control is outlawed). The father, the mother, the parents of both should be financially responsible for the child. If they are students, get a part-time job. No welfare, not food stamps, no entitlements. Those who engage in irresponsible behavior will soon learn that their actions have consequences.
Forcing taxpayers to pay billions of dollars for abortions and to support illegitimate children for 18 years or more is not just undemocratic and unfair, it is criminal.