Sex Education

To find out more about Pennsylvanians for Responsible Sex Education (PARSE), of which Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates is a chair organization, and other resources advocating for comprehensive sex education in Pennsylvania, visit the PARSE website here: http://www.parseinpa.org/

Sex Education Lobby Day 2010

PPPA held a sex education rally at the Pennsylvania Capitol on May 24th in support of our comprehensive sex education bill, the Health Youth Act (HB1163). The rally featured women standing on the capitol steps wearing black and red to represent the statistic that 1 in 4 teenage girls have an STD. The primary sponsor of the bill, Rep. Chelsa Wagner (D-Allegheny County), and a doctor in support of comprehensive sex education, Dr. Rollyn Ornstein, spoke in support of the legislation.

Sex Education Lobby Day 2009

To find out more about sex education in Pennsylvania, click here: Sex Education in PA

Pennsylvanians for Responsible Sex Education (PARSE) held a fantastically successful lobby day in Harrisburg on March 31st, 2009!

Between staff and volunteers, 150 people attended from all across the state – all the way from Union City to Bucks County, PA! In person meetings were held with over 45 legislators – nearly a quarter of the State House of Representatives – and an additional 135 offices received information packets from lobby day participants! Constituents met with legislators to educate them about the dire need for comprehensive sex education in Pennsylvania schools, and to urge their support of two bills that would go to great lengths to improve the climate in public schools – the Healthy Youth Act and the Notice Home Act. Both bills will be introduced after the legislature’s spring break in late April.

The press conference and rally had an impressive crowd showing, with speakers including teen advocate Jordyn Bowen from Union City, Director of the Harrisburg Pregnant and Parenting Teen Program Dawn Reeves and Pittsburgh parent Terri Klein. Representatives Tony Payton, Tim Briggs, Barbara McIlvaine-Smith, Dan Frankel, Babette Josephs, Eugene DePasquale all attended to show their support.

Lobby Day was a tremendous success, and we will be continuing our support on this common sense issue in the months to come. Constituent outreach is needed to submit letters to the editor, attend local lobby visits, and participate in monthly phone banks. The momentum will only increase at this point, and we can’t accomplish any of it without help – please join us!

Comprehensive Sex Education in Pennsylvania

Legislation
Failed Abstinence Only Until Marriage Programs
Other Information
What you can do to help

Planned Parenthood, American and Pennsylvania voters believe that young people want and need comprehensive sex education; sex education that includes information about abstinence, as well as information about healthy relationships, contraception, and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections. Real sex education works; it has been shown to delay intercourse, decrease the number of sexual partners, and increase use of contraception. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of the public agrees with a comprehensive, practical approach to sex education which extends across political parties and religious groups. In an April 2007 Pennsylvania poll, 83% of voters agreed that sex education programs should instruct students about both abstinence and ways to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including birth control.¹

• For more than two decades, federal funding has been directed to abstinence-only programs. Significant research demonstrates the failure of abstinence-only programs to meet the goal of delaying the onset of teen sexual activity. Numerous studies, including Congress’ own research (http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/abstinencereport.asp) have shown that abstinence-only education does not delay teen sexual behavior, but in fact has found a deleterious effect: when young people become sexually active, they are more likely to engage in risky behavior due to the lack of information they possess regarding safe sexual activity.² In Pennsylvania specifically, both teen pregnancy and abortion rates rose in 2006; further illustrating the increase in unintended teen pregnancy and a possible correlation to abstinence-only programs. To read more about failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, click here: Failed Abstinence Only Until Marriage Programs.

Comprehensive sex education is an incredibly important component of health curricula to keep our young people healthy, and here are just a few reasons why:

• Currently, 1 in 4 teen girls carries a sexually transmitted infection³ and every year, almost 750,000 girls 15–19 become pregnant⁴
• About half of teens are having sex and nearly two-thirds⁵ will have had sex by their senior year in high school.⁶
• Young people account for nearly half of the 18.9 million new STI cases each year even though they only comprise a quarter of the sexually active populace.⁵
• Teens who participated in sex education programs that discuss the importance of delaying sex and provide information about contraceptive use were significantly less likely to report teen pregnancies than those who attended abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.⁷

Pending Legislation

Planned Parenthood, in coalition with Pennsylvanians for Responsible Sex Education (PARSE), supports two pieces of proactive legislation to improve the sex education instruction and parental involvement in Pennsylvania public schools:

• The Healthy Youth Act sponsored by Representative Chelsa Wagner (D-Allegheny County) sets guidelines for Pennsylvania public schools for teaching sex education in schools. The bill would require:
  • Provide age-appropriate, medically accurate, and non-discriminatory information;
  • Teach and reinforce that not engaging in sexual intercourse is the only certain way to prevent pregnancy and to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS;
  • Provide information about the health benefits of condoms and other barrier methods as a means to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV;
  • Encourage youth to communicate with family and trusted adults about sexuality;
  • Teach that alcohol and drug use can affect the ability to make responsible decisions.
• The Notice Home Act sponsored by Representative Eddie Day Pashinski (D-Luzerne County) which requires provision of information to parents about the content of specific public school curricula as they pertain to abstinence-only-until-marriage programs or instruction, and methods of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Failed Abstinence Only Until Marriage Programs

We all want teens to be safe and make responsible decisions about life. We can’t be with them all the time, but we can make sure that they have the education and information they need to make healthy and smart decisions. Unfortunately, abstinence-only programs deny teens the information they need to prevent unintended pregnancy and STDs. Many teens who have participated in abstinence-only programs are less likely to use contraception or get tested for STDs.

Click here to see the ACLU’s work on combating abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in Pennsylvania:
http://www.aclupa.org/education/clarabellduvallreproductiv/opposingabstinenceonlyunti/

Additional studies on the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only programs can be found here:

• Full text of a report prepared for Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) on damaging abstinence-only programs: http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20041201102153-50247.pdf

Further, a study conducted by our own Penn State University in 2002 evaluated Pennsylvania’s Abstinence Only Programs found:

• Youth desire more information on contraception.
• As a whole, this initiative was largely ineffective in reducing sexual onset and promoting attitudes and skills consistent with sexual abstinence.⁸

Other Information

Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates is part of a state coalition, PARSE, or Pennsylvanians for Responsible Sex Education. PARSE is dedicated to ensuring that all Pennsylvania youth receive age-appropriate, comprehensive, evidence-based sex education throughout grades K-12. This is the first statewide coalition effort focused solely on comprehensive sex education advocacy. Efforts to curtail Pennsylvania’s acceptance of Title V federal abstinence-only-until-marriage funding is ongoing, as well as school district level advocacy.

Despite evidence proving abstinence-only programs ineffective, Pennsylvania continues to accept federal Title V abstinence-only funds. Currently, the Pennsylvania Department of Education requires no sex education in Pennsylvania public schools beyond addressing HIV/AIDS transmission; which can be accomplished through abstinence-only-until-marriage instruction with no discussion of other methods of prevention. As a result, education varies widely across the Commonwealth. In 2004 and 2005 Pennsylvania did not apply for Title V funds – a federal source of abstinence-only-until-marriage funding, and was one of only a few states to decline. Since that time, while every state on the northeast coast stretching from Maine to Ohio to Virginia was simultaneously rejecting Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage funds, the Pennsylvania Department of Education changed course and repeatedly re-applied. Additionally, Pennsylvania’s senior U.S. Senator Arlen Specter is a strong proponent of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, despite his pro-choice/pro-family planning positions, and has repeatedly designated millions of dollars in federal earmarks specifically for abstinence-only education programs in the state.

What You Can Do to Help

First, join our email Action Network to receive updates on Sex Education and other important issues! Go to our website, www.plannedparenthoodpa.org, continue to the Main Site, and click “Sign up for the Planned Parenthood Action Network!” on the main page.

Join us in local advocacy efforts like lobby visits with legislators, sending a letter to the editor to your local paper, or a phone bank night talking to other voters on the importance of sex education in Pennsylvania schools. To find out opportunities are available near you, send an email to administration@pppamail.org.

If you are a parent, get in touch with your local school board to find out their sex education policies. Contact us at administration@pppamail.org if you’d like to get involved!

Also, Planned Parenthood is offering a ten week summer internship to increase support for comprehensive sex education legislation in Pennsylvania by doing community outreach in important areas of Pennsylvania. You can find more information on the internship, and apply online here: http://www.plannedparenthoodpa.org/office/2010-internships.php

¹ Susquehanna Polling, April 2007.
² http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/abstinencereport.asp
³ Centers for Disease Control, http://www.cdc.gov/stdconference/2008/media/release-11march2008.htm
⁴ Guttmacher Institute, U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics: National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity, < http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf >, accessed April 16, 2006.
⁵ Abma et al., Teenagers in the United States: sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing, 2002, Vital and Health Statistics, 2004, Series 23, No. 24.
⁶ I Weinstock et al., Sexually transmitted diseases among American youth: incidence and prevalence estimates, 2000, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2004, 36(1):6–10.
⁷ Pamela K. Kohler, RN. Et al., Absintence-Only and Comprehensive Sex Education and the Initiation of Sexual Activity and Teen Pregnancy, Journal of Adolescent Health, Spring 2008
⁸ Smith, et al. “Evaluation of the Pennsylvania Abstinence Education and Related Services Initiative: 1998-2002”. Pennsylvania State University. 2003