ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH

Youth Calls on U.S. Government to Put Politics Aside and Give Young People the Sexuality Education They Need

Advocates for Youth Testifies Before the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

WASHINGTON, DC (October 27, 2000) In testimony yesterday, Advocates for Youth called on the Office of Population Affairs (OPA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to put politics aside and support effective comprehensive sexuality education programs that provide information about both abstinence and contraception.

"While we discuss the problems of teen pregnancy in America, 2,200 teens will get pregnant each day. While we argue about which subjects to include in sex education, 8,000 teens become sexually active each day," said Barbara Huberman, Director of Sexuality Education for Advocates for Youth.

"If you are sincere about addressing the sexual health needs of adolescents, you must begin to rely on fact, science and research to guide prevention programs, not political ideology and wishful thinking. And in this case, the research is clear - comprehensive sexuality education is the most effective sexuality education for young people because it causes them to delay too early sexual activity and to use contraception correctly and consistently when they do become sexually active," said Huberman.

Huberman is not alone in her concerns. Young people themselves say they need the information to protect themselves from unintended pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). "I am one of over 57 million young people in the U.S. Of this group, 70% of us will have or have had sexual intercourse by the age of 18. One of the greatest weapons you can give us is the ability to help ourselves," said Bill Barker, a 23 year old staff member of Advocates for Youth.

There is widespread support for comprehensive sexuality education among leading medical organizations. The American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and more than 100 other medical and professional organizations all support comprehensive sexuality education. At the same time, there is a growing body of evidence against abstinence-only-until-marriage education. Last month the Institute of Medicine called on Congress to rescind funding for ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Days later, the Office of National AIDS Policy expressed grave concern over these ineffective programs.

That is why Barker finds the current congressional trend of funding abstinence-only-until-marriage programs particularly disturbing. "At a time when nearly half of all new HIV infections occur in those under the age of 25, American teens deserve medically accurate, realistic information about sex," said Barker. "Anything less, in the era of AIDS, is not only naïve and misguided, but also irresponsible and dangerous."

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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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