USE IT TO IMPORT WOMEN:

New grant gives state a license to promote healthier marriages (JOEL GAY, 9/05/04, Anchorage Daily News)

Alaska state government is poised to spend $500,000 to try to reduce poverty and improve children's welfare by promoting the traditional two-parent marriage.

In starting its Healthy Marriage Initiative, the state joins a growing national movement pushing the idea that children and adults in families headed by married couples fare better financially, physically and emotionally than those of single or unmarried parents.

Derided by some people as public interference in a private issue, the healthy marriage movement has gained momentum in recent years. President Bush supports the idea, and Congress is considering a bill to provide $240 million a year for marriage-strengthening initiatives.

The state, meanwhile, has received a one-time, one-year federal grant to promote marriage in Alaska and is asking community and church-based organizations for ideas. It's too early to say what the Alaska program might look like or what services it might offer, said Bob Buttcane of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.

The best thing about this effort is that it guves Democrats another opportunity to, in effect, argue against marriage.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 6, 2004 6:41 AM