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Weinberg, Stender Joint Statement On Federal Funds For Sex Ed, Teen Pregnancy Prevention

TRENTON, NJ – Senator Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, and Assemblywoman Linda Stender, D-Union, Middlesex and Somerset, the two leading advocates for the restoration of $7.5 million in funding which was cut from the FY 2011 State Budget for women’s health and family planning programs in New Jersey, issued the following joint statement today upon learning that New Jersey will receive $3.6 million for teen sex education and pregnancy prevention programs:

“At a time when the Christie administration has turned its back on women’s healthcare, it’s good news that the federal government is providing money to help us prevent some of the unintended teen pregnancies which will result from the Governor’s far-right-leaning health care agenda. However, these funds will do nothing to address the reproductive and other health needs of adult women now left out in the cold.

“What today’s announcement fails to mention is that the Christie administration found the matching dollars needed to apply for federal funding for abstinence-only education at the same time that they refused to identify a single dollar for family planning funding. The notion that abstinence-only education works is a figment of the right-wing Republican imagination. The fact that the administration took the time to apply for this funding further underscores the ideological choices this administration is making.”