Parents enrolled to fight for abstinence

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 6/3/2008 9:15:00 AMvar addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';

Abstinence education has become a tough sell in Washington, but a strategy has been developed to drive the message home.

The National Abstinence Education Association has set up an affiliate organization to muster support throughout the country. Executive director Valerie Huber knows that opponents are well financed, but she says they are no match for parents who have the resources and "know how" to fight for their children. "So, the purpose of Parents for Truth is to enroll, over the next three years, one million parents to be a part of [the organization]," she explains.
 
The goal is 100,000 for the first year. "They will be provided information on what is going on in their state, in their community," she continues. "[A]nd they will also receive tools so that they can fight and win battles in their own schools on behalf of their children."
 
Huber says it is the goal of opposition organizations such as Planned Parenthood and SEICUS -- the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States -- to de-fund abstinence and increase funding for explicit sex education.
 
The current focus of Parents for Truth is Congress, where funding for abstinence education runs out at the end of June -- unless lawmakers extend it. Huber encourages supporters to contact their elected representatives to vote for passage.