Napolitano says she will reject abstinence funds

Noting a series of studies that show a decade of abstinence-only education has failed to change teens' sexual behavior, the governor said she is rejecting $1 million in federal abstinence funding.

That frees up about $800,000 the state would have used to match the federal dollars, money Napolitano wants targeted at community college students.

After a decade of steady declines, Arizona's teen birth rate inched up last year, mostly due to an unprecedented increase in births to 18- and 19-year-olds.

"While we all support 'abstinence only' and don't believe particular teenagers ought to be engaging in sexual relations of that sort, the fact of the matter is, some do," the governor said Wednesday.

"They need to have complete information for their own health, for their own bodies."

But abstinence-only advocates say teens need a clear message to counter the hypersexuality of today's society.

Rep. Mark Anderson, R-Mesa, who championed the abstinence program since its inception, said the governor caved in to intensive lobbying from Planned Parenthood.

"I think it's ludicrous. I think it's a big mistake on the part of the governor," Anderson said. "I think it fuels Planned Parenthood's agenda. And I resent it."

Arizona would become the 16th state to reject the federal abstinence funding.

Although the governor can turn it down on her own, she'll need legislative support to create her family planning program.

That sets up a political fight with the Republican-controlled Legislature, which could use the abstinence funding in budget negotiations.

Napolitano said the state can't afford to support ineffective programs during tough budget times. The state must bridge a current-year deficit of up to $970 million, and it faces a much larger problem in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

In any case, she'll need legislative approval to create a new family planning fund and allow low-income women to receive family planning services before they're pregnant. Currently, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System provides family planning services only to women with children.

The plan targeting community college-age Arizonans, however, wouldn't change what's taught in Arizona schools.

There's no requirement that Arizona schools teach sex education, and most don't. But about 28,000 students were part of abstinence-only programs, which are required to teach that abstaining from sex outside of marriage is the "expected standard for all school-age children" and that sex outside of marriage "is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects."

Some districts, including Scottsdale Unified and Phoenix Union, use abstinence-based programs that may include information about contraceptives.

The latest federal survey of teens showed that two-thirds of high school students said they'd had sex at least once.

"In the last decade, more than $1 billion has been wasted on dangerous abstinence-only programming," said Rachel Chanes, vice president of community services for Planned Parenthood of Arizona.

"Now, the question becomes, how do we work toward mandating medically accurate sex education across the state?"