In many communities where there has been an increase in the number of pregnant teens, there is a hope that, once the Bush administration is not in control of the White House, there will be changes to the way that sex is taught in schools. Specifically, a number of states are hoping that when Obama takes office there will be funding for comprehensive sexual education programs.

(source) In his sweeping speech at the Democratic National Convention last summer, President-elect Barack Obama may have touched upon the key to one of New London’s most vexing and heartbreaking problems.

”We may not agree on abortion,” then-Sen. Obama said, “but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country.”

As the national teen-pregnancy rate rises for the first time in 15 years, health experts, community workers and legislators from New London to Washington hope the “common ground” solution on which people on both sides of the abortion debate can agree is comprehensive sex education.

Advocates of comprehensive sex education, which covers contraception as well as abstinence, have gained ground in the last year. A long-awaited Congress-backed study found abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which the Bush administration supports, to be inadequate and ineffective. As a result, 17 states, including Connecticut, have refused money for the programs.

Now, comprehensive sex education advocates are hoping the federal and state governments will show them the money.