ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH

Experts Return to Europe to Solve U.S. Teen Sexual Health Crisis

American Young People  At High Risk for Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Disease

INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE WITH TOUR PARTICIPANTS IN EUROPE

WASHINGTON, DC (May 31, 2000) Citing the fact that teen birth, abortion and sexually transmitted disease rates in the United States are the highest among industrialized nations, Advocates for Youth and sexual health experts from throughout the U.S. begin a 15-day study tour of the Netherlands, France and Germany.

Advocates for Youth's President, James Wagoner, calls on the U.S. to learn a lesson from Europe. "Despite the recent decline in U.S. teen pregnancy rates, the U.S. has nearly seven times the teen pregnancy rate of the Netherlands, 74 times the adolescent gonorrhea rate of France, eight times the teen abortion rate of Germany, and U.S. teens begin having sex earlier than European teens. Clearly, Europe is doing something right," said Wagoner.

Barbara Huberman, the Director of Sexuality Education at Advocates for Youth and the tour coordinator, finds the rates in these European countries to be drastically lower than in the U.S. because of a practical and healthy attitude about sex. "Unlike in the U.S., sexuality information is widely available to young people in those countries. What we have to realize in the U.S. is that denying young people critical information about contraception is not only naïve and short-sighted, but irresponsible and dangerous," said Huberman.

The third annual European Study Tour, sponsored by Advocates for Youth and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, is composed of 22 prominent health professionals, policy makers and educators from throughout the U.S. Tour participants from California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon, Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, DC are working with health experts in Europe to identify strategies, programs and policies in the Netherlands, France and Germany that influence adolescent sexual behavior and outcomes.

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Note to Editors and Producers: For more information or to set up an interview with adolescent sexuality experts, please contact Bill Barker at (202) 419-3420.

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