Abstinence-Only Education

02/27/2013

Moving the Ball Forward on Comprehensive Sex Education

By Steven Waddy, Legislative Assistant, ACLU at 4:56pm

As unbelievable as it sounds, some parts of our country are still teaching abstinence-only sex education in 2013. That’s why Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-C.A., recently reintroduced the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act (REHYA), renewing their vow to provide comprehensive sex education to young Americans. This legislation provides grants and guidelines for education that will help young people make healthy, responsible decisions about their own sexual health. New STIs cost our country an estimated $16 billion a year, so this isn’t just smart policy—it’s fiscally sound, too.

04/11/2013

Abortion Legislation

Reproductive Rights and Yesterday's Budget Release

By Sarah Lipton-Lubet, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:03am

President Obama yesterday released his proposed budget for fiscal year 2014. Here are five things you should know about how it affects reproductive rights:

Home Rule for the District of Columbia

As he has each year of his presidency, President Obama removed the D.C. abortion ban from his budget proposal. That ban prohibits the District of Columbia from using its own locally raised funds to pay for abortion care for low-income D.C. residents. By contrast, all other states are permitted to use non-federal revenues to pay for abortion care if they so choose.

09/14/2012

Abstinence-Only Education

Bird, Bees and Bias: How New York Schools are Failing our Young People

By Johanna Miller, New York Civil Liberties Union at 7:07pm

You won't believe what passes for sex ed in classrooms across New York State: An anatomy lesson defining the vagina as a "sperm deposit", a handout portraying women as "hazardous material", cautioning students that same-sex attraction is a cause to seek "counseling."

08/23/2012

Abstinence-Only Education

Clovis School District: Sex Education that Gets an "F"

By Phyllida Burlingame, ACLU of Northern California at 10:25am

California state law mandates that sexual health education in public schools be comprehensive, medically accurate, science-based, and bias-free. So why are Clovis Unified High Schools teaching teens from a book that makes no mention of condoms, even in chapters about HIV/AIDS and on preventing STDs and unintended pregnancy?

Recent events, such as Representative Akin’s ill-informed statements about reproductive biology and rape – put the issue in a stark light. The brand of sex ed that Clovis high schools are peddling is putting teens’ health at risk – it’s dangerous, unlawful, and could have serious consequences if it is not stopped.

04/08/2011

Abstinence-Only Education

Let’s Talk About Sex

By Lorraine Kenny, Center for Liberty at 6:50pm

This Saturday at 10 pm/9pm Central, The Learning Channel, the network that brings us Toddlers & Tiaras, Cake Boss, and 19 and Counting, will air Let’s Talk About Sex, a documentary about what we are teaching – or failing to teach – our kids about sex. At its core, I found the film more disturbing than watching parents traffic their toddlers in tiaras through the junior pageant circuit – a show I admittedly find pretty hard to watch. The first time I saw Let’s Talk About Sex, I sobbed: ashamed of how poorly we are educating our children and fearful that I am not fully up to the task of helping my own daughters lead healthy, happy, and yes, sexual lives. But I also left the film inspired to make a difference.

12/14/2011

HIV/AIDS

Will Politics Trump Science and Undermine Civil Liberties in Spending “Deal”?

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 9:40am

In negotiating the year-end spending deal, some in Congress would rather put politics ahead of science and public health.

11/03/2011

Abstinence-Only Education

Forget Abstinence-Only Programs and Let’s Get Real.

By Kristina Roth & Vania Leveille, Washington Legislative Office at 12:10pm

The attacks on common sense have begun again. The recently introduced House Labor and Health and Human Services FY12 spending bill makes massive cuts to the teen pregnancy prevention initiative (TPPI). It cuts the program by $85 million and, if that wasn’t bad enough, the bill allocates $20 million for abstinence-only programs. Adding insult to injury, the drafters of the bill cut research funding that could lead to more effective programs. Although teen pregnancy rates have decreased in the last couple of years, the U.S. still has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world. There’s no denying the need for medically accurate and age-appropriate sex education.

American Civil Liberties Union