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Don't Let the Senate Gut Healthy Youth Act
The Senate Mental Health & Youth Services Committee has caved to the religious right and passed a gutted version of the Healthy Youth Act. Take action now and ask your senator to amend the bill on the Senate floor to restore parental choice. Don't let them force a curriculum based on some people's values, not the scientific facts, on all young people.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Fix the Healthy Youth Act
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
The Healthy Youth Act (HB 88) is coming to the Senate floor soon. While the bill that came over from the House was a strong bill that gave parents a real choice about sex ed, the version passed by the Senate Mental Health Committee is inadequate.
Please support and advocate for an amendment that would restore parental choice to the bill. Forcing the failed, ineffective, and inaccurate abstinence-only program on all students is simply wrong.
Parents want the choice of a real, comprehensive sex education program for their kids. Please, take action to give them that choice.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
June 10, 2009
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Key facts about the House version of Healthy Youth Act
The current abstinence only curriculum doesn't provide LGBT young people with advise on how to protect themselves from disease besides telling them to remain celibate their whole life. That's just not realistic!
33% (that's one-third!) of teenage girls who dropped out of high school said that they did so because they become parents.
In 2005, 48% of female high school students and 54% of male high school students in NC reported ever having sexual intercourse.
Roughly 50% of all new sexually transmitted infections occur among youth ages 15 to 24.
The Healthy Youth Act, as passed by the House, would create a dual-track system for the way that sex education is taught in North Carolina. It would allow parents to decide whether their teenager is enrolled in an abstinence-only program or an abstinence-based, comprehensive sex education program.
The Healthy Youth Act, as passed by the House, takes the politics out of the sex education debate. Parents, not politicians, should decide which program is most appropriate for their teen.
Numerous peer-reviewed studies have determined that abstinence-only programs DO NOT WORK while comprehensive sex education programs do. North Carolina teens deserve to learn accurate information in programs proven effective in changing behavior. This is information that could save their lives.
