More about Sexuality Education; Teen Sexuality
 

Reaching the unreachable -- teen pregnancy prevention in Westchester County


  April 27, 2009

Planned Parenthood Hudson-Peconic’s Smart Wheels vans fulfill a vital need, serving the most at-risk and hardest-to-reach women and men in our communities who may not have access to our medical centers and care.  [PPHP is] enhancing core services aboard the Westchester-based van by increasing education and services to women of childbearing age and expanding sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing.  
 
With an increase in both STIs and teenage pregnancy, Smart Wheels serves as a unique, visible venue to address both of these public health matters.|MORE

April 27, 2009 -- Hundreds of not-for-profit teenage pregnancy prevention and comprehensive sex education programs across the U.S. are facing budgetary constraints as a result of the economic downturn and reductions in public and private funding, which could threaten the ability of many centers to continue operations, the Wall Street Journal reports. |MORE

"The abstinence-only approach to sex education currently used in Texas schools and other states across the country 'isn't working,' Texas state Rep. Joaquin Castro (D), vice chair of the Texas House Committee on Higher Education." |MORE

Dr. Ann Engelland was Future Choices' guest in the March 2009 TV program, "Our Daughter’s Emergency — Plan B for Our Family.” As specialist in Adolescent Medicine Dr. Engelland offers refreshingly reality-based observations to help parents guide their teens through the daunting challenges of developing healthy social relationships during their high school and early college years.

Deborah L. Kaplan, Assistant Commissioner for the NYC Bureau of Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health was featured on the Future Choices in February 2009, "Take Control: NYC Takes on Reproductive Health." Debbie outlines the impressive array of creative strategies for transforming the lives of NYC’s at-risk adolescents which she has spearheaded in both the public and private sectors in the city and environs.
The Nurse Family Partnership Program, which was launched under Ms. Kaplan's leadership, was spotlighted. This highly successful program in which specially trained nurses are paired with first-time mothers to provide them with the essential parenting skills was the focus of a previous Future Choices show, "Partnering for Mother Power."

What are others saying about the comprehensive sex education?

Biloxi Sun Herald

Lawmakers in Mississippi are debating whether to adopt a comprehensive sex education program after a recent CDC report found the state has the highest teen birth rate in the nation. |MORE

U.S. Congress

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) -- lead sponsor of the Prevention First Act, which would increase federal funding for family planning, comprehensive sex education and access to contraception -- said that abortion-rights supporters "should be focused on finding common ground to prevent unwanted pregnancies so you won't have to worry about abortions in the first place."
The Prevention First Act, introduced January 19th, 2009 by Louise Slaughter (D-NY), notes [among other findings] that:

(26) Teens who receive comprehensive sexuality education that includes discussion of contraception as well as abstinence are more likely than those who receive abstinence-only messages to delay sex, to have fewer partners, and to use contraceptives when they do become sexually active.
(27) Government-funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs are precluded from discussing contraception except to talk about failure rates. An October 2006 report by the Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Health and Human Services does not review the materials of recipients of grants administered by such Department for scientific accuracy and requires grantees to review their own materials for scientific accuracy. The GAO also reported on the Department's total lack of appropriate and customary measurements to determine if funded programs are effective. In addition, a separate letter from the Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Health and Human Services is in violation of Federal law by failing to enforce a requirement under the Public Health Service Act that federally funded grantees working to address the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, including abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, must provide medically accurate information about the effectiveness of condoms.
|MORE

AP

Future of abstinence-only funding is in limbo

By DAVID CRARY
Jan 18, 2009

NEW YORK (AP) — With the exit of the Bush administration, critics of abstinence-only sex education will be making an aggressive push to cut off federal funding for what they consider an ineffective, sometimes harmful program...
And even if federal funding is halted, some states — such as Georgia — are determined to keep abstinence programs going on their own, ensuring that this front in the culture wars will remain active.
Obama is considered an advocate of comprehensive sex education, which — unlike abstinence-only curriculum — includes advice to young people about using contraceptives if they do engage in sexual activity. However, Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to elaborate on what the new president would propose in his own budget plan.

|MORE

Guttmacher Institute

December 30, 2008

Virginity Pledges Do Not Work, Yet Another Study Confirms

Teens who take “virginity pledges” are just as likely to have sex as those who do not, and they are less likely to use condoms or other forms of contraception when they become sexually active, according to an analysis in the January 2009 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Pediatrics. Because virginity pledge programs do not reduce the number of young people becoming sexually active, the number of pledgers they enlist should not be used to measure the effectiveness of abstinence-only sex education programs, the study concludes. |MORE

RH Reality Check

The majority of American parents support comprehensive sexuality education that includes information on abstinence as well as contraception, sexual health care, relationships and more. So why are we still pouring millions of federal dollars into failed abstinence-only programs? |MORE

Ignorance Is Bliss, And Then You Get an STD

For today's teens, the instinctual quest for sex carries the risk of unspeakable pain. In the age of AIDS, the very act that gives life could end up being a death sentence...|MORE

The Healthy Teens Act died in the NYS legislature once more in 2008. It passed the Assembly and once again the Senate failed to move on it. |MORE about the legislative progress

What is the Healthy Teens Act? For brief description and legislative history, go here.

  • A report published late May 2007 in the American Journal of Sociology suggests having sex doesn't harm the mental health of teens, except for those ages 15 or younger whose relationships tend to be less committed. See: Report: Sex doesn't harm older teens
  • According to a biennial study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, "the number of sexual scenes on television has nearly doubled since 1998..." -->>Read further:"Sex on TV 4"
  • "Raising a child is probably the most gratifying job any of us will ever have -- and one of the toughest. We live in an increasingly complex world that challenges us every day with a wide range of disturbing issues that are difficult for children to understand and for adults to explain. We believe this Web site can help by offering practical, concrete tips and techniques for talking easily and openly with young children ages 8 to 12 about some very tough issues..." -->>Read further "Talking with Kids About Tough Issues" covering sex, HIV/AIDS, violence, drugs and alcohol.
  • "With strong support from President Bush and millions of dollars in funding, abstinence-only sex ed has become the government's preferred strategy in the war on teenage pregnancy" -->>Read further in a report from the Dallas Morning News.
  • "In fall 1997, the Franklin County, North Carolina, school board ordered chapters on sexual behavior, contraception and AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) cut out of its health textbook for ninth graders. The deleted material, the board said, did not comply with a new state law requiring public schools to teach abstinence until marriage in their comprehensive health education program for students in kindergarten through ninth grade..." Read further a thought-provoking report from the Alan Guttmacher Institute about compromised sex education programs in our schools: School-Based Sexuality Education: The Issues and Challenges.
  • Human Sexuality — What Children Need to Know and When They Need to Know It -->>Read further in a Planned Parenthood educational piece.
  • Books by Debra W. Haffner available at your favorite book store:
    • From Diapers to Dating: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Sexually Health Children
    • From Diapers to Dating: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Sexually Health Children – From Infancy to Middle School
    • Beyond the Big Talk: Every Parent’s Guide to Raising Sexually Health Teens from Middle School to High School and Beyond
  • New CDC Data on Sexual Behavior Reinforces Need for Comprehensive and Medically Accurate Information and Education for All People Throughout Their Lifetime. -->>Read further in a special SIECUS report.
  • "Driven by new concerns over teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other STDs, sexuality education enjoys an unprecedented level of support, according to a [1999] survey..." -->>Read further.