CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire‘s four-member Democratic congressional delegation is asking for federal funds for a sexual education program offered in counties with higher-than-average teen pregnancy rates.
The request comes after the Republican-led Executive Council rejected the money.
The program offers classes covering abstinence, the reproductive process, sexually transmitted diseases and contraception, the delegation said in their letter dated Thursday to Xavier Becerra, secretary of health and human services.
The council, which approves the receipt and expenditure of all federal funds in New Hampshire totaling $10,000 or more, voted 3-2 against the funds last month.
Republican Councilor Janet Stevens joined Democrat Cinde Warmington voting for the $682,000 contract, which the council approved in the past. Some members raised concerns this year about parents not having enough of a say in the program.
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Without the money, the two organizations that offer the program “will be forced to end classes until an accessible federal funding source becomes available or in perpetuity, leaving hundreds of New Hampshire youth without access to critical sex education and pregnancy prevention programs,” said the letter signed by U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, and U.S. Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas.
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