As Deborah R. McFarlane wrote in her letter to the editor of the Journal of Public Health Policy about abstinence-only education:
Federal support for abstinence-only education has increased dramatically during the presidency of George W. Bush, who believe that abstinence is the only fail-safe way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy. This belief, however, is not grounded in evidence, but in the hopes of Mr. Bush and Congressional conservatives. …show more content…
Bush (R, 2001-09)” (Teen Pregnancy Follow-Up). Abstinence-only education is funded far more than sexual education is and, in fact, is given one dollar for every twelve dollars that go into every other pregnancy prevention program in the United States (Teen Pregnancy). McFarlane reveals her dislike for the way the United States is spending taxpayers’ money by asking, “How many sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies could have been prevented if a billion and a half more dollars had been spent on contraceptives and prophylactics instead of for an untested experiment in abstinence-only education?” (2). This difference in funding and cost of not teaching students about sex has been claimed to be the reason for such a high teenage pregnancy rate in the United