Pass the Healthy Youth Act Please email YOUR Senator now and ask them to support the Healthy Youth Act and make comprehensive, non-discriminatory sex ed available in all our public schools. The bill will be heard in committee and headed to the Senate floor this week or next! Help North Carolina make REAL Sex Ed a reality; email your legislator and ask them to vote favorably on this bill! Together, we are making a difference! Sample Letter for Campaign Subject: Choose Healthy Youth Dear [ Decision Maker ] , I'm your constituent and I'm asking you to vote for the Healthy Youth Act, H.B. 88. It's time to take the politics out of sexuality education in our schools. The fact is, most parents want an abstinence-based, comprehensive sex education program for their kids, but state law denies them that choice. Peer-reviewed scientific research has shown again and again that comprehensive works and abstinence only doesn't. Please vote for H.B.88 to give parents the choice of their teenagers getting life-saving information on disease and pregnancy prevention. Thank you. Sincerely,

Campaign Launched: May 19, 2009

Background Information

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 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 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.