Views on Sex-Ed Divide Democratic, GOP Candidates

Alison Bowen reports for WeNews:

The U.S. has spent about $1 billion on abstinence-only education in the last decade and the White House seeks $28 million more. Here's how presidential candidates line up on the issue.

(WOMENSENEWS)--An end to abstinence-only sex education was at the top of the list when 600 self-described feminists met in New York recently to rally their ranks and craft a platform for U.S. presidential lobbying.

Abstinence-only--for which President Bush proposes a 2008 budget of $204 million--has avid supporters and wary detractors, who want to find a more comprehensive way to present sex education.

In March, three members of Congress introduced a bill to authorize federal funds for states' comprehensive sex education that offers menu of options from abstinence to contraception and abortion. The Responsible Education About Life Act--or the REAL Act as the bill is known--was sponsored by Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J.; Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.; and Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn.