The content of sex education programs can be a tricky issue for politicians, who risk alienating their political base by supporting federal funds for programs that their constituents object to.

The Los Angeles Times reported today that abstinence-only sex education, which has traditionally drawn most of its support from Republicans, continues to survive even though Democrats now control Congress.

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.

Democrats have generally criticized abstinence-only sex education as ineffective, but David R. Obey, a Democrat from Wisconsin and House Appropriations Committee Chairman, has departed from his party’s stance by supporting the abstinence-only approach.

Robert Rector, a senior policy analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation, said he believes the Democratic party as a whole will strategically try to until after the 2008 presidential elections to revive the fight against abstinence-only education.

The Kaiser Network reported on the L.A. Times story and also provided some related content.

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