Teens Need Responsible, Medically Accurate Sex Education

There is still time to make your voice heard and support Florida teens getting the information they need to make healthy decisions - including medically-accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education.TAKE ACTION NOW! to tell your legislators to support policies that provide our youth with the comprehensive sex education they need to protect themselves and make responsible choices.

On November 5th, the University of Florida released a study confirming what we already knew - that the state of sex education in Florida is failing our youth. The very next day, a national report, Emerging Answers 2007, was released by Douglas Kirby, Ph.D., and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The report showed that abstinence-only programs are ineffective, and includes strong evidence that abstinence-only programs do not have any impact on teen sexual behavior.

However, last year, Florida received $10,700,147 in federal funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Florida is not only the the second largest recipient of federal abstinence-only funds in the nation, but also has the 6th highest rate of teen pregnancy and the 2nd highest rate of annual HIV transmission in the country.

Parents and teachers, working together, know best how to teach the difficult subjects of sex and life skills. But too many schools cater to a narrow minority by allowing abstinence-only programs to censor teachers and exclude parents input.

Teens need and deserve responsible sex education that includes information about abstinence, AND about protection from diseases and pregnancy.

THERE'S STILL TIME Sign the petition telling your legislators that the time has come for statewide standards so all teens learn the facts about sex from trusted and responsible sources.CLICK HERE to sign the petition today