FPA in the News: 2007

Legislative Gazette

"Healthy Teens Act a Priority for FPA"

By: Ariana Cohn

1.8.07

Clashing ideologically based opinions over how New York’s public schools should be teaching sex education have caused confusion among educators, with some teachers deciding to remain silent when it comes to human reproduction.

But advocates of the proposed Healthy Teens Act say its time for state leaders to consider the consequences of remaining in that state of confusion. They say lawmakers must take into account both the impact this confusion is having on their young constituents’ health and the state’s economy when teenagers are having babies, contracting sexually transmitted diseases and getting abortions.

Last Year, the proposed Healthy Teens Act, a bill designed to promote comprehensive sexual education for children and teenagers in New York, won overwhelming approval, 127 to 15, in the Assembly where it was sponsored by health committee Chairman Richard N. Gottfried, D,WF-Manhattan. However, it was not brought to the floor for a vote in the Senate, despite the support advocates say it received from members of the Senate health committee.

According to Family Planning Advocates of New York State, comprehensive sexual education is urged by 83 percent of the state’s suburban voters, 74 percent of New York City voters and 76 percent of Upstate voters.

Getting the Healthy Teens Act passed in both houses of the Legislature this session is one of FPA’s biggest priorities for 2007.

The Healthy Teens Act was created to provide funding for previously non-funded comprehensive sex education programs, as opposed to the $13 million spent on abstinence-only programs being taught within the state’s education system. By enacting the bill, advocates say, schools would be forced to create more effective and well-rounded curricula to address alarming statistics linked to sexually active teens

According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, 6,789 babies were born in the United States to women under the age of 15 in 2004, 110 of whom were their mother’s second child, and five were their mother’s third baby. Also in 2004, 434 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19 were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, bringing the total number of teenagers affected by the disease to 15,338 since the beginning of the epidemic in 1981.

The national abortion rate for young women between the ages of 15 and 19 has been rapidly climbing since 2003, according to the report.

Many religious leaders say the growing number of consequences from teen sex rests in the fault lines of New York’s education system and an undefined curriculum for what must be taught. “The Empire State doesn’t have this, it’s disgraceful,” said JoAnn M. Smith, president and CEO of Family Planning Advocates of New York State. “Right now in New York State there is $13 million going to a program that has no effect, and we can substitute it for something meaningful and smart,” she said.

Smith estimated that to fully fund an adequate sexual education program for the youth of New York would be a $20 million project. However, members of some faiths are content with the abstinence-only programs that are currently being taught without costing the government any additional money.

Joseph Meaney, director of International Coordination for Human Life International, an organization that teaches abstinence-only education in 75 countries, said that comprehensive sex ed. confuses teenagers. “A lot of sex education sends two messages. One, we think you should wait, but two, we want to tell you all these other methods in case you do have sexual relations. This makes the individual think, ‘As long as I use birth control I’m fine,’ but teenagers don’t use birth control well,” he said.

Others say the danger of teaching abstinence-only education not only affects sexual activity, but the portrayal of men and women as well. “Some of the curriculum we’ve seen talk about women as ‘young princesses’ and men as ‘vicious dragon slayers,’” said Smith. “A lot of the information that is given about men and women is very flawed and almost medieval,” she said.

Still, abstinence-only is included in any form of sexual education, as it is the most reliable defense against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

The Rev. Tomi Jacobs, minister of the United Church of Christ, has seen firsthand the effect of teaching mainly abstinence-only. “Several years ago we taught a course in the church that was abstinence plus, but there was a lot of emphasis on abstinence,” Jacobs said. “Ten percent ended up pregnant,” she said.

In collaboration with Concerned Clergy for Choice, members of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, say comprehensive sex education will prove effective, but it must begin with realism.

“Abstinence-only is ‘Just say no.’ It has no validity in terms of reality,” said Carlton Veazey, pastor of the Fellowship Baptist Church and president of RCRC. “With the HIV/AIDS virus, this is a dangerous time to live, and we believe that the way to prevent [disease] and teen pregnancy is to give [teenagers] a broader sense of sexuality, and for them to understand how to be responsible,” he said.

With help from his congregation, Veazey began the Keeping It Real program 10 years ago, designed to encourage dialogue about sex within the black religious community. “We want to keep it in a real manner. We use the language they use, the phrases they use, and we base it on religious principles such as responsibility,” said Veazey. “One of the missing links and failures has been that [educators] don’t talk to the young people, they talk around and under them,” he said.

The program’s goal is not only to ensure that members of the black community have healthy sexual lives, but to promote better living situations in the community as well. According to Veazey, teen pregnancy in the black community has increased 700 percent between 1964 and 1990. In addition, 70 percent of the poverty in the black community can be traced to teen pregnancy.

“If we have poverty at that magnitude in the black community we need to do something,” said Veazey, “This not only addresses a religious concern, but also an economic concern.”

“I think that the goal [of religion and government] should be the same,” said Rabbi Scott B. Weiner. “We want all our constituents to be healthy and lead healthy lives,” he said. Weiner is greatly in support of the Healthy Teens Act because of the funding it provides educators to teach sex education completely. “There really isn’t adequate funding for them,” he said.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer did address a woman’s right to have control over her reproductive health in his State of the State, declaring, “We must ensure that our state laws protect that right, should the federal courts compromise it.”

Smith commented, “We are proud that Gov. Spitzer articulated his strong support for reproductive health care issues. Ensuring that all women have access to the full range of reproductive health services is an important step in moving toward ‘One New York.’”

The FPA is hopeful Spitzer will be able to uphold his promises, despite President Bush’s propensity to oppose birth control and sex education. Whether Spitzer can achieve this or not, the Rev. Tom Davis, chair of the advisory board of FPA, said the solution to the teen-pregnancy and STD problem may be closer to home. He said, “If the family is very active in these matters, they’ll arrange the contraceptive properly. Lots of families are broken up and just can’t do it. To have better education in schools will help.”