WASHINGTON — In the 1990s, amid a growing culture war over the role of religion and morality in public policy, Republicans used their congressional majorities to crank up funding for programs that encouraged teens to abstain from sex until marriage.
But now, though Democrats have taken control of Congress, abstinence-only programs are surviving attempts to shut them down. And they could even get an increase with the aid of an unlikely ally: House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.), one of the old liberal lions.
"We're expecting funding to be pretty comparable to what it was in the past," said Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Assn. "Those who oppose abstinence education are probably more surprised than I am."
Democrats have long criticized the programs, saying they're ineffective in combating teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases because they do not include instruction in the use of condoms.
Expectations that a Democratic-controlled Congress would gut abstinence-only education rose this spring after a major federally funded study concluded that such programs do not appear to have any effect on sexual abstinence among youth, nor on age of sexual initiation or number of sex partners.
But the oldest abstinence program won a reprieve last month. And a companion program may get a significant funding increase. The reason: Led by Obey, some Democrats are suddenly protecting the programs.
Obey is supporting abstinence-only education, saying he wants to steer his panel away from the highly charged terrain of moral issues.
And by increasing funding for such programs, he is also making a political calculation that he can pick up some Republican support for much bigger health and social welfare programs that the White House wants to cut.
However, the Senate could take a different direction. Its committee leaders are trying to reduce funding for abstinence-only education, but individual senators are expected to try to prevent that.
The issue could flare up soon on the Senate floor during debate over legislation to fund the Labor Department and the Health and Human Services Department.
The reversal of fortunes for abstinence-only education has caused political discomfort for some Democrats.
