Senator Arlen Specter
711 Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Specter,

We the undersigned would like to express our strong gratitude and support for your report language in the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Related Agencies spending bill directing a review of the Department of Health and Human Services' website, 4parents.gov. All of us agree that parents should be the primary sexuality educators of their children. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us all to make certain that parents receive the most accurate information and resources they need to achieve this difficult task.

Unfortunately, as you have recognized and as many concerned advocates, teens, and parents have expressed to Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt, 4parents.gov fails to meet these goals and instead relies on fear to motivate behavior and contains numerous errors and biases that undermine its intent of encouraging parent-child communication around sex and sexuality. As recognized by the expert reviews of the website commissioned by Representative Waxman and released by him on July 13th, 4parents.gov presents biased and inaccurate information as fact and does not address the needs of many youth, including sexually active youth, youth who have been or are being sexually abused, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Although we recognize that a few changes have been made to date, these minimal changes are not sufficient to address the biased, misleading, and medically inaccurate misinformation contained on the website and it continues to concern us that this resource for parents is still up and running.

We appreciate your work in ensuring that America's families are provided with the most accurate information to help assure their well being by directing the Department of Health and Human Services to review the findings of the study, undertake a review of the website by Departmental public health and scientific experts, and make any necessary changes to conform with scientific evidence. Additionally, we hope there might be further discussion and inquiry into the non-competitive process HHS used to select the National Physicians Center for Family Resource, Inc. (NPC) in creating the website's design and content and the payment to this organization of $64,800 in taxpayer money for a clearly inferior product.

We hope that you will continue your efforts to ensure medically accurate information that does not reflect ideological views, and we pledge to stand behind you in these efforts.

Sincerely,

Pennsylvania Organizations
American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania
Family Health Council, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA)
Family Planning Council (Philadelphia, PA)
Health GAP (Philadelphia, PA)
Monterey Peninsula Chapter of National Organization for Women
Pennsylvania Coalition to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
Women's Law Project (Pittsburgh, PA)

National Organizations
9to5, National Association of Working Women
Advocates for Youth
AIDS Action Council
AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families
AIDS Resource Alliance
American Academy of HIV Medicine
American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, & Therapists American Civil Liberties Union
American College Health Association
American Foundation for AIDS Research
American Humanist Association
American Medical Student Association
American Psychological Association
American Public Health Association
American Social Health Association
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP)
Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP)
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
Health Access and Privacy Alliance
Healthy Teen Network
Infectious Diseases Society of America
International Women's Health Coalition
Internet Sexuality Information Services (ISIS-Inc.)
Legal Momentum
Mary Wohlford Foundation
Ms. Foundation for Women
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum
National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health (NPWH) National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA-US)
National Coalition for STD Directors
National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)
National Council of Women's Organizations
National Council on Family Relations (NCFR)
National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Associations
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National Minority AIDS Council
National Network for Youth
National Organization for Women
National Organization Responding to AIDS (NORA)
National Partnership for Women and Families
Our Bodies Ourselves
Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Presbyterian Church (USA), Washington Office
Religious Institute on Sexual Morality Justice, and Healing
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS)
The AIDS Institute
The Title II Community AIDS National Network
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
YWCA USA

State-Based Organizations
Ab Gyn Services of Phoenix, P.C. (AZ)
ACLU of Vermont
AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc.
AIDS Alabama
AIDS Foundation Chicago (IL)
AIDS Project Los Angeles
Alaska Women's Lobby
Basic Rights Oregon
Buffalo Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Services (NY)
California Adolescent Health Collaborative California Alliance Concerned with School Age Parenting and Pregnancy Prevention (CACSAP)
Central New York HIV CARE Network
Doulas of Monterey County (CA)
Emory University Office of Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Life
Family Planning Association of Northeast Ohio, Inc.
FutureNet, Inc., The Iowa Network for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, Parenting, & Sexual Health
Gay/Lesbian Faculty-Staff Association (GLFSA) of Montclair State University
Illinois PTA
Indiana Justice Fund
Maine Civil Liberties Union
Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Prevention and Parenting (MOAPPP)
NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio
National Organization for Women - Nebraska
New York AIDS Coalition
Okanogan Family Planning (WA)
Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (CA)
Planned Parenthood of Central Ohio
Planned Parenthood of Chester County
Planned Parenthood of East Central Illinois
Planned Parenthood of Georgia
Planned Parenthood of Hawaii
Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington DC, Inc.
Planned Parenthood of Nebraska & Council Bluffs
Planned Parenthood of Southeast Iowa
Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (CO, MO, NM, NV, WY) Program for the Study of Sexuality, Gender, Health, and Human Rights (New York, NY)
Protestants for the Common Good (Chicago, IL)
Public Health - Seattle & King County (WA)
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice of Northern California Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Indiana
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice-Missouri
Reproductive Rights Coalition of Monterey County (CA)
Reproductive Rights Network of Santa Cruz County (CA)
San Diego BRIGHT Families Project (CA)
SERT* (Sexuality Education Resource and Training) (Boise, ID)
Six Rivers Planned Parenthood (CA)
South Carolina Equality Coalition
TellThem! (SC)
Texas Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates (TAPPA)
Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood (Albany, NY)
West Virginia Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Women's Coalition South Bay (CA)
Wyoming Health Council