As the White House and congressional Democrats begin the process of eliminating federal funding for scientifically debunked abstinence-only sex-education programs, it turns out that newly minted Democrat Arlen Specter seems to like them very much.
According to data compiled by Taxpayers for Common Sense, Specter was responsible for nearly half a million dollars in earmarks for abstinence-only education programs in his home state of Pennsylvania in the 2009 Omnibus Spending Bill. Specter's name is on 20 earmarks through the Department of Health and Human Services -- each worth $24,000 -- to organizations ranging from public school districts to pregnancy "crisis" centers to faith-based organizations.
This is not new for Specter. Many of the earmarks appear to be continuations of funding he secured in 2007, when he was responsible for $8 million in abstinence earmarks. A Politico article at the time posited that Specter, "who supports abortion rights, is turning the state into the abstinence-earmark capital of the country."
--Sarah Posner
