ACLU Says Government Funded Abstinence Program Is Religiously Based

The ACLU has charged in a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services last week that federal grants for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs are being used unconstitutionally to fund the Stop and Think program in Oregon, South Dakota and Wyoming. The ACLU charges that contracts entered by federally funded social service agencies require that Stop and Think presenters be Christians, suggesting that religion is an essential part of the Stop and Think program. (ACLU Press Release). The Oregon ACLU has written the Oregon Department of Human Services which acts as a conduit for some of the federal funds involved, also asking it to investigate. A posting on Saturday on Talk To Action has a longer discussion of the issue. Stop and Think's website makes no mention of religion in discussing its program. [Thanks to Blog From the Capital for the lead.]