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Rachel Jacobson |
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Fwd: REAL Act Introduced in US Congress
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Mar 19th, 2009 - 08:57:25 |
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FYI
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: William Smith
*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:*
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Senator Lautenberg, Representative Lee and Advocates Say It's Time To
Provide 'REAL' Comprehensive Sex Education
*Lawmakers Introduce REAL Act To Fund Comprehensive Sex Education*
*WASHINGTON**, D.C.** *Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and
Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) today joined the Sexuality Information and
Education Council of the United States (SEICUS), NARAL Pro-Choice America,
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Advocates for Youth and other
leading health care groups to introduce a bill that would authorize federal
funding for comprehensive and medically accurate sexual education.
Currently, federal funding is only available for
abstinence-only-until-marriage programs which have been shown to exclude
important information about contraception to prevent pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases and are ineffective in delaying sexual activity among
youth.
*Growing up isn't easy and our young people find themselves in tough
situations every day. They need all the information to make smart choices,
and abstinence-only programs simply arent working, *Sen. Lautenberg
said. *It's time for our nations young people to get the education they
need to take on the real life situations facing them every day.*
*Its time for us to get REAL about sex education. We should absolutely be
teaching young people about abstinence, but we shouldn't be holding back
information that can save lives and prevent unwanted pregnancies. Instead
of abstinence only, what we're proposing is abstinence-plus,* said
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA).
*We are very grateful to the policy makers, under the leadership of Senator
Lautenberg and Congresswoman Lee, who are supporting this important
legislation, *said Joseph DiNorcia, Jr., president and CEO of the Sexuality
Information and Education Council of the United States.* "President Obama
was a cosponsor of the REAL Act when he was a Senator, and has made it very
clear that he supports comprehensive sexuality education by signing the
appropriations for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2009 with the first ever cut
to federal abstinence-only-until-marriage spending. Congress should follow
his lead not only by cutting all remaining funding for failed
abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, but by passing the REAL Act and
funding programs that work.*
*As someone who spent 25 years as a teacher and state education official in
Montana, I know young people need honest, medically accurate
information,"*said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice
America.
*"I commend Sen. Lautenberg, Rep. Lee, and all the bills supporters for
answering the public's call to move away from funding the failed Bush-backed
'abstinence-only' policies. Americans, most of all parents, want to provide
teens with the truth about contraception and other ways to prevent sexually
transmitted diseases or avoid unintended pregnancy.*
*We applaud Senator Lautenberg and Representative Lee for the introduction
of the REAL ACT, and for their commitment to ensuring Americas teens have
the information needed to keep them healthy and safe,* said Cecile
Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
*Abstinence-only
education has failed our young people. Our country currently leads the most
developed countries in the world in the number of teenage pregnancies, at
least one in four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted infection, and an
estimated 750,000 teenagers will become pregnant this year. The REAL Act is
common sense legislation that will help our young people prevent teen
pregnancy, protect their health and make responsible decisions."*
*The REAL Act is a necessary first step if we are serious about providing
young people the important education and information they need to make
responsible decisions about their sexual and reproductive health, * James
Wagoner, President of Advocates for Youth, said.
The *Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act* would establish the first
grant program for comprehensive sex education. Under the bill, sex
education programs would be age-appropriate, medically accurate and provide
information about both contraception and abstinence. Research has shown
that comprehensive sex education programs are effective in reducing risk
behaviors by delaying the onset of sexual intercourse, reducing the number
of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use among teens.
Of the 19 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases annually in the
United States, almost half of them strike young people ages 15 to 24. Every
day, an average of 24 young people or one young person every hour is
infected with HIV in the United States. The United States also has one of
the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the industrialized world.
Despite these statistics, there are three separate federal programs that
fund abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, but no federal funding
currently exists specifically for comprehensive sexuality education.
Currently, states can only receive funding if they agree to teach
abstinence-only-until-marriage while excluding information about the health
benefits of contraception to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted
diseases. A 2007 report on state-funded, abstinence-only programs found the
programs had no measurable impact on increasing abstinence or delaying
sexual initiation among youth.
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