TVC staffers April Waugh and Heidi Crikelair attended the White House event where President Bush explained why he had vetoed the bill earlier in the day.

A White House press advisory on the veto stated: “If this legislation became law, it would compel American taxpayers – for the first time in our history – to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos. The president has made it clear to Congress and the American people that he will not allow the nation to cross this moral line.”

The Senate, however, is already preparing to add funding for embryonic stem cell research to one or more bills within the next week, according to Congressional Quarterly Today.

Leading this effort are Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA). The funding may be added to the 2008 spending bill or to the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill.

In addition, abstinence education funding has come under attack from liberals in both parties. Harkin proposes cutting spending on abstinence education by 25% to $84.9 million for 2008.

Harkin and other pro-abortion Senators claim that abstinence education doesn’t work. They favor “comprehensive sex education,” which includes discussions of condom use for pre-marital activities among teens.

A recent government report, however, has shown the ineffectiveness of comprehensive sex education to reduce pregnancies or sexual activities among teens. Project Reality, an abstinence education group has analyzed this lengthy report: “Analysis of Comprehensive Sex Education Curricula Review.”

This analysis points out that condoms and contraception use are discussed seven times more frequently than abstinence in so-called comprehensive sex education materials. In addition, every curricula analyzed contained misleading statements about condom effectiveness. In fact, seven of the nine curricula urged teens to go shopping for condoms. Moreover, there were no indicators of any of these materials delayed sexual activity and no long-term effects were detailed.

TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty has stated: “Once again we have clear evidence that Planned Parenthood-type sex education is only designed to promote condom use and sexual activity for teenagers. The results are typically unwanted pregnancies and a variety of sexually transmitted diseases. This is why abstinence education must continue to be fully funded by the federal government.”