Planned Parenthood Applauds the Healthy Teens Act
Bill will require comprehensive sex education including information about abstinence and methods of protection from diseases and unintended pregnancy
Sarasota, FL – At a press conference in the state capitol, Senator Ted Deutch and Representative Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall introduced the Healthy Teens Act (SB 848, HB 449), a bill requiring Florida public schools that already teach information about sexually transmitted infections, family planning, and pregnancy to provide medically-accurate and comprehensive sex education – including facts about abstinence and methods of preventing unintended pregnancy and the spread of diseases.
Members of the Healthy Teens Campaign, including Planned Parenthood, applauded the legislators for putting teen health first, and sponsoring legislation that will provide parents and teens with information and education to be responsible and safe about their health.
The introduction of the Healthy Teens Act comes in the wake of a University of Florida study showing that Florida currently has no regulations regarding sex education and that young people receive too little information too late. Most recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data showing that sex education programs do work to help discourage many teens from becoming sexually active before age 15. Instead, many Florida teens are being short-changed by ineffective abstinence-only programs.
“We know that too many Florida schools don’t give students the facts they need. We need to change that,” says Adrienne Kimmell, Executive Director of the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates and Healthy Teens Campaign spokesperson. “Our national policy of abstinence-only-until-marriage is simply not working. Comprehensive sex education gives teens the facts about pregnancy and diseases and the life skills that encourage self-esteem and parent-teen communication.”
With no statewide standards for sex education, the sixth highest teen pregnancy rate in the country and the second highest HIV and AIDS rates in the country it is time for the Legislature to act in the best interest of its most valuable resource – the youth of Florida. The Healthy Teens Act is a commonsense measure that ensures that Florida teens receive comprehensive sex education that teaches facts and communication to protect our families and our teens’ futures.
Florida is currently the second largest recipient of federal abstinence-only-until-marriage dollars in the country – despite the fact that countless studies have shown abstinence-only programs don’t work.
Several recent studies have found abstinence-only programs to be ineffective. A nine-year, large-scale federally funded evaluation of the Title V program found no measurable impact on increasing abstinence or delaying sexual initiation among participating youth. Instead, it found that these programs actually decreased adolescents’ confidence regarding the ability of condoms to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Last month, the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy also found that abstinence-only programs have no real impact on teen sexual behavior. In addition, a 2004 congressional report found more than two-thirds of these programs distort information and mislead young people by giving them false information about contraception.
“Denying teens accurate information about how to prevent pregnancy puts their education and futures at risk,” according to Adrienne Kimmell. “Teens need and deserve responsible sex education that includes information about abstinence, and about protection from diseases and pregnancy.”
Polling shows that an overwhelming 78% of Florida registered voters support a proposal that would require sex education to be taught in Florida public schools. Polling also shows that the majority of Americans support comprehensive sex education. A 2007 poll by Peter D. Hart Research Associates reports that 76% of Americans support the teaching of comprehensive sex education in public schools. More specifically, 66% of Republicans, 60% of evangelicals, and 78% of Catholics support the teaching of comprehensive sex education.
The Healthy Teens Act is being supported by the Healthy Teens Campaign, a broad-based coalition made up of education and public health organizations that seek to improve the health and safety of Florida teens through comprehensive sex education. Comprehensive sex education teaches abstinence as well as life saving information about other prevention methods such as condoms and contraceptives.
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Healthy Teens Campaign is a new broad-based group of organizations working together to advocate for comprehensive sex education in Florida public schools to improve the health and safety of Florida teens.