Abstinence funding up in the air ... again 

Funds for abstinence education programs in public schools are due to be exhausted by the end of June, but there is hope now that it will be renewed. 

Democrats and Republicans have joined forces to put the funding in a bill designed to fix Medicare. Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America (CWA), is hopeful there will be a lot of support from constituents.
 
"This bill may get vetoed for other reasons [than] because of the abstinence funding, which means that Congress will have to go back to the bill, decide what will stay in and what will be thrown out. We need to continue praying that the abstinence education funding will stay in this bill until it is finally signed by President Bush," Wright explains.

Wright encourages calls and e-mails to Washington. "One reason why this is important is because it's likely they're going to have to fight to keep the abstinence education funding in the bill," she explains, "so we want them to be encouraged enough to do that. They need to know that people care about this and want the funding in the bill."
 
According to the CWA leader, there is another beneficial aspect of the bill. The programs have only been funded lately three months at a time, she points out, and the latest proposal provides money for 18 months. "That means the states don't know if the funding is going to continue," says Wright. "[Consequently] a number of states have stopped funding abstinence programs. So having a longer extension, 18 months, will encourage the states to fund the programs that our kids really need," she adds.

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