Governor Gregoire signed into law a new Senate bill requiring state agencies to apply only for sexual health grants that fund programs which are medically accurate, effective and have shown real and calculable impact on participants.
The new law repeals a former state policy that required the Washington Department of Health to apply for Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage funding. Now the Department of Health can apply for funding for comprehensive sex education programs.
It looks like those Abstinence-Only programs are slowly but surely on their way out. After all, our own government determined they have NO impact on kids’ sexual decision making, so it doesn’t really make sense to throw money at something that doesn’t really work, now does it?