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ANTI-DISCRIMINATION

HATE CRIMES PROTECTIONS

RELATIONSHIP RECOGNITION & MARRIAGE EQUALITY

SAFE SCHOOLS

TRANSGENDER ISSUES

RESPONSIBLE SEX EDUCATION

YOUTH - SNAP

Healthy Youth Act

SUPPORT TEEN HEALTH: SUPPORT THE HEALTHY YOUTH ACT (HOUSE BILL 1163)

83% of Pennsylvania voters SUPPORT teaching comprehensive sex education in public schools over an abstinence-only-until-marriage approach. [1]

No abstinence-only-until-marriage program has been shown to help teens delay the initiation of sex or protect themselves when they do initiate sex. [2],[3]

In 2008, a Center for Disease Control study shocked the nation with the announcement that one in four teenage girls today is infected with an STD. [4]

Pennsylvanians for Responsible Sex Education (PARSE) urges the Pennsylvania General Assembly and Governor Rendell to adopt the Healthy Youth Act. In order to provide youth with accurate sexual health education, the Healthy Youth Act would require public schools to adhere to the following guidelines:

• Provide age-appropriate, medically accurate, and non-discriminatory information;
• Teach and reinforce that not engaging in sexual intercourse is the only certain way to prevent pregnancy and to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS;
• Provide information about the health benefits of condoms and other barrier methods as a means to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV;
• Encourage youth to communicate with family and trusted adults about sexuality

No standards exist for comprehensive sex education in Pennsylvania.

• The cost of teen childbearing to Pennsylvania taxpayers was $398 million in 2004.[5]
• In FY 2007, $6,723,057 was distributed toward abstinence-only programs within the Commonwealth - programs that fail to provide Pennsylvania teens with crucial, accurate, health information.
• In 2005 there were 19,062 reported teen pregnancies in Pennsylvania.[6]
• Teenagers who receive sex education that includes discussion of contraception are more likely than students receiving abstinence-only messages to delay sexual activity and to use contraceptives when they do become sexually active.
• It is estimated that, nationally, at least half of all new HIV infections are occurring in youth ages 15 through 24. [7]
  

[1] Susquehanna Polling and Research Survey (April 2007)

[2] Santelli J et al. Abstinence and abstinence-only education: a review of U.S. policies and programs. Journal of Adolescent Health 2006; 38(1):72-81.

[3] Hauser D. Five Years of Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Education: Assessing the Impact [Title V State Evaluations] Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth, 2004.

[4] Centers for Disease Control, http://www.cdc.gov/stdconference/2008/media/release-11march2008.htm

[5] The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy www.teenpregnancy.org

[6] http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/lib/health/Vital_Stat/2005/2005_preg.pdf

[7] http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/lib/health/hiv/EpiResources-05/EpiResources/Profile/4.2.demog-age.pdf.