Washington

-This week Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA), as well as 35 co-sponsors in the House and 4 co-sponsors in the Senate, re-introduced the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act, legislation that would provide young people with the comprehensive sexual health education they need to make informed, responsible, and healthy decisions in order to become sexually healthy adults and have healthy relationships.

“Young people are an essential component of the rising political electorate; demographics tell us that this population alone will grow by 4 million every year through 2020 when they will number 103 million of voting age. They are more diverse, they are more progressive, and they demand to be heard,” said Deb Hauser, President of Advocates for Youth. “We have a responsibility to work alongside young people, and we call on President Obama and elected leaders across the country to do the same.”

"Comprehensive sex education programs reduce behaviors that put young people at risk, and it's past time we get real about giving young people the information they need from trusted sources to live healthy lives" said Congresswoman Lee. "Research has shown that programs which teach abstinence and contraception effectively delay the onset of sexual intercourse, reduce the number of sexual partners, and increase contraceptive use among teens. These programs also reduce unintended pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV."

The Real Education for Healthy Youth Act provides comprehensive sexual health education to adolescents and young adults in public schools, communities, and institutions of higher education that is age appropriate, inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) young people, and is medically accurate.

Among its many highlights, the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act:

• Recognizes young people's right to sexual health information — the first time federal legislation has ever done so.
• Prepares young people to make informed, responsible and healthy decisions about relationships and sexual health by including a comprehensive range of topics such as communication and decision-making skills; promoting safe and healthy relationships; and preventing unintended pregnancy, HIV, other STDs, dating violence, sexual assault, bullying, and harassment.
• Includes grants for comprehensive sexual health education programs for adolescents and young adults in institutions of higher education.
• Requires all funded programs to be inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual youth and meet the needs of young people who are and are not sexually active.
• Highlights the importance of, and provides resources for, teacher training to ensure that our nation's sex educators have the tools they need to provide the highest quality comprehensive sex education possible to our nation's youth.

"Young people have the right to live healthy lives," said Sarah Audelo, Director of Domestic Policy for Advocates for Youth. "To make that possible we need to make sure young people have all the information and tools they need to make health decisions, this legislations helps us get there."

There is broad public support for comprehensive sexual health education, which includes information about both abstinence and contraception, but young people themselves are its biggest proponents. Recent research shows that 88% Millennials support comprehensive sexual health education. Millennials show nearly universal support for sexual health education to include information about preventing HIV/AIDS and other STDs (91%); healthy relationships (90%); preventing unplanned pregnancy (88%); and information on abstinence from sex (79%). There is no question that young people want more sexual health literacy, more sex education school and more access to the tools that will help to protect them.

The Real Education for Healthy Youth Act represents a turning point for sexual health education policy in America, with support from a diverse array of public health, nonprofit, and youth-serving organizations.  

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Advocates for Youth is a national organization that promotes programs and advocates for policies that help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health.