How to Lobby Against Sex Ed

Most rich people hoping to influence federal policy are content to write checks to fund political campaigns or shuffle cash to advocacy groups that lobby for their causes. But not Raymond Ruddy. Ruddy, a 66-year-old retired businessman who runs a pro-life charity in suburban Natick, Massachusetts, is the premier benefactor of the abstinence-only sexual education movement. During the first two quarters of this year’s health care reform debate, Ruddy spent $130,000 of his own money to push federal abstinence-only sex education funding. By all accounts, Ruddy’s is the loudest voice on Capitol Hill for abstinence-only sex education. In 2009 Ruddy spent more to lobby on the issue than any abstinence-only advocacy group, including Christian Coalition of America and the National Abstinence Education Association. The Atlantic, The Nation