This week, Advocates for Youth is joining dozens of our partner organizations in calling for a permanent repeal of the Global Gag Rule.

The Global Gag Rule is a dangerous U.S. policy that has been used to prevent foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive U.S. funds from using their own, non-US funds to:

- provide legal abortion services
- advocate for abortion law reform in their own countries, and
- even provide accurate medical counseling or referrals regarding abortion.

Click here to ask your Senators and Representative to support a PERMANENT repeal of the Global Gag Rule!

Janine Kossen, Director, Public Policy

Last week, promising news broke about a decline in global maternal mortality over the past 28 years.  While this is indeed fantastic news and definitely a step in the right direction, the reality is that complications from pregnancy (including childbirth and unsafe abortion) are still the leading cause of death for young women aged 15-19.  Furthermore, the abovementioned report makes note that progress in reducing maternal mortality would have been even greater had it not been for HIV/AIDS, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where the epidemic has taken a drastic toll on the lives of women, men, children, and youth. 

Fortunately, U.S. Representative Yvette Clarke (D-11^th NY) recognizes both the interconnectedness of health and human rights and the unique needs and power of global youth.  This week, she introduced The Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act of 2010 (H.R. 5121), a groundbreaking piece of legislation that would fundamentally transform U.S. foreign assistance policy regarding sexual and reproductive health, bringing it in line with a rights-based approach. 

Urge your Representative to co-sponsor the Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act!  

Two new funding opportunities for teen pregnancy prevention interventions have recently been announced. 

• Replication of Evidence-Based Programs (Tier 1)
• Research and Demonstration Programs (Tier 2)

Advocates for Youth’s National Support Center includes a number of helpful resources for organizations planning to apply, including tips for the application process, a general funding proposal template, and reviews of evidence-based programs.  Learn more

Learn more about these funding opportunities and how to get the application process started after the jump! 

by Nikki Serapio, Manager, New Media Strategies

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UPDATE:  Governor Jim Doyle rejected the notion that teachers could be prosecuted for teaching sex education in Wisconsin.  "It's really an unusual argument to make, 'Follow the law and I'll prosecute you,'" Doyle said.

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In a move meant to terrorize Wisconsin school teachers and scare administrators away from comprehensive sex ed programs, District Attorney Scott Southworth has threatened to press charges against sex ed instructors in Juneau County, Wisconsin. In a March 24 letter, Southworth issued a brazen ultimatum to the County's teachers, demanding that they end any plans to teach comprehensive sex education during the Fall 2010 school year and beyond. If the teachers refuse, Southworth has signaled that he will pursue criminal charges against them for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

By James Wagoner, President

Lost in the shuffle of analysis of the new health care reform legislation, is the fact that Democrats included over $250 million for failed Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. The funds had been inserted in the health care reform legislation by Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) during Senate Finance Committee consideration of the bill.

Never mind that these programs place the health and lives of young people at risk by denying them medically accurate information about condoms and birth control. Never mind that an exhaustive eight-year evaluation by Mathematica published in April, 2007 showed that these programs have “no impact on teen behavior”.

Never mind that 22 states had rejected Title V funding in the past because they did not want to spend precious matching funds on programs that don’t work. Never mind that Speaker Pelosi condemned these programs at the Netroots conference in 2008. Bottom line is they are back, and Democrats seem none to eager to own up to who threw young people under the bus!

by James Wagoner, President

On March 23, President Obama made history by signing health care reform into law.

While there are many things in the legislation that will benefit young people — including $75 million for evidence-based sex education programs — the bill also re-authorizes the failed abstinence-only-until-marriage initiative referred to as Title V.

There is simply no reason that funding for these ineffective programs should have been included in health care reform. Three things remain shockingly clear:

• These programs still do not work. An eight-year evaluation funded by Congress demonstrated that these programs have "no impact on teen behavior."
• Abstinence-only programs put the health and lives of young people at risk by censoring critical health information about contraception and condoms and violate the rights of all young people to honest, accurate, and complete information.
• Taxpayers will be forced to foot the bill for $250 million in wasted spending over five years, making a mockery of conservative Democrats' claims that they want to cut spending or reduce the deficit.

This was not a calculated compromise to get extra votes. There was no public pretense that these programs would improve the health of America's youth. Congressional leaders had any number of opportunities to simply remove abstinence-only funding from the final bill.

Make no mistake: Democrats decided to keep this $250 million ideological earmark in the bill.

by Nikki Serapio, Manager, New Media Initiatives

One year ago, Ugandan parliamentarian David Bahati introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, a measure that seeks to impose the death penalty on LGBT HIV-positive citizens found to be having sex, as well as life sentences for LGBT Ugandans found to be (by a lay witness or the police) having sex.

First, the good news — the bill has stalled. Warren Throckmorton, a popular blogger and college professor who has followed the the Anti-Homosexuality Bill since its introduction, published an update today on the current status of the measure within the Uganda Parliament.

"...it remains under consideration by the [Ugandan Parliament's] Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee. According to Charles Tuhaise, a researcher in the Parliamentary Research service, no public hearings have been scheduled. A second reading cannot be scheduled until hearings have been conducted and a committee report has been prepared. Time is running out; the Ugandan elections are coming and the current Parliament ends inn May, 2011. Hon. David Bahati, the mover of the bill, has not responded to my questions about where he takes the bill from here."

In part, the bill was stalled after outcry and pressure from the Obama administration, the U.S. Congress, and a number of human rights organizations (including Advocates for Youth).

by Nikki Serapio, Manager of New Media Strategies

Recently my colleague Sarah Audelo and I had the chance to attend RootsCampDC, which brought together over 700 community and online organizers. (Kudos to the New Organizing Institute for spearheading a great event.) We were excited to meet and listen to so many inspiring activists...no doubt, it's not often that you can talk about social networks and old-school advocacy with both a Chavez-era labor organizer and a young tech startup CEO (at the same time)!

Here's what I took away from my RootsCamp conversations.

1) Let's work to bridge "online" and "offline." It's tempting to think of websites and social networks as constituting one separate and isolated sphere. If I tweet about Utah's horrible new miscarriage law, for example, we might expect this to lead to...well...more tweeting. Ultimately, though, our duty is to use online tools in order to promote real-life organizing.

More after the jump!