RISING GLOUCESTER High School junior Kacia Lowe, in speaking of her young classmates who reportedly made a pact to get pregnant, said it best: "No one's offered them a better option." That is sad but true, and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is largely to blame.
Patrick refused to accept $700,000 in federal funds for abstinence-centered education, effectively killing the program that taught youngsters to respect themselves, have a vision for their future, and delay sex until they are older, preferably married.
Abstinence programs in Massachusetts by law must be presented in conjunction with contraceptive-based sex ed.
Budget limitations didn't allow the program to be offered in Gloucester. And without federal funding, abstinence-centered education most certainly will disappear in Massachusetts altogether.
Condoms and birth control pills could not have saved these young girls. But abstinence-centered education starting in middle school may have.
Too bad Patrick stopped giving kids that chance.
KRIS MINEAU, President, Massachusetts Family Institute, Woburn
