Sex Education is Being Reformed! New Evidence-Based Sex Education Amendment Passes in House Committee

Sorted under education, sex and sexuality on July 25, 2009

Earlier this week the US House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation in a 33-23 vote to support comprehensive sex education. The Healthy Teen Initiative amendment has been added to the proposed health care reform bill, known as the Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. The Healthy Teen Initiative allocates $50 million dollars in state grant funding for evidence-based sex education programs and will work to reduce teen pregnancy, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections, and comprehensively address a range of teen sexuality issues. It will also work to build life-long skills to promote good sexual and reproductive health throughout a person’s life.

Personally, I find it a little sad completely and utterly pathetic that I am sitting here writing a post about how awesome it is that we’re finally going to have evidence-based sex education programs taught in schools and organizations. Seriously people–What the fuck are we doing where we need the US House Energy and Commerce Committee to approve legislation to support comprehensive sex education? This is common sense. There is no such thing as telling a teen not to have sex and then thinking that they are actually going to listen to you. When it comes to sex education, you need to have the mindset that whoever you are educating is going to go out and have sex because whether you like it or not. Whether you believe they should or not, they are going to make that decision on their own and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it but feel confident that you have given them all of the information they need to effectively protect themselves against an unwanted pregnancy as well as against sexually transmitted infections. But that isn’t how you wanted your kid to turn out? Too bad, since they are equipped with that pesky free will thing.

But some still aren’t complacent with this common sense approach to sex education and are still fighting to give abstinence-only sex education a voice in the system. Congressman Lee Terry (R-NE) proposed that the failed amendment that funded abstinence-only sex education programs be extended to 2012 since their funding expires this year. Thankfully this proposal failed by 3 votes, but the scary thing here is that it could have very well passed and we could have still been funding an amendment that lies to teens if just three people had changed their votes. That is not enough support for comprehensive, fact and evidence-based sex education. Sex education is not an issue where “both sides” can get along. Abstinence-only sex education robs people of way too much for it to have any place at all in the curriculum taught to teens. They need facts, not a sermon that is better reserved for church.



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  • Female_Ejaculation
    Say what? Evidence-based sexual education as a governmental decree? I wonder when parents will finally see that it is THEIR task to educate their children as good as possible. But I guess the blame game on schools and the authorities is far more comfortable.
  • Evidence based sex ed is definately better than subjective, morality/religious based sex ed. I wonder how all this will work out
  • We live in йpoque when information plays the key role. Whom to blame, when the present generation, born by this very time of informational technologies, becomes early aware of sex, drugs and etc.? What’s sense of proclaiming abstinence-only sex, if tomorrow your child will surf through the Internet and download a hardcore (without even taking much efforts)? I haven’t heard of any legal measures, taken against this factor of youth debauchery. We all leave in a society and saying “Don’t do it” won’t really help, especially when it’s said at school. The only thing we can say is: “Think, before you do it and what consequences it may have”. The safe-sex education is at first hand the task of parents – here I completely agree with detsl21. Parents are not able to barricade their child from the society, but they are able to help him adapt in this society and avoid rude mistakes in future.
  • nejc
    I also agree with you. Really nice!
  • yeah. they aren't going to listen for sure. what you need to do is make it a lesson to teach safe sex, not abstinence
  • detsl21
    Two friends of mine got pregnant when they were only fourteen years old. It's not the schools fault for not educating them about teen pregnancy because the school did but it's the parents job to educate them. The school environment is different and it just doesn't have the same effect on the child coming from a complete stranger, the teacher. When a parent tells you, then you know they mean it because parents actually care.

    Unfortunately the two girls in an unstable environment and were taken advantage of the older boys who later left them with the kids.
  • Well, the kids today are just too matured for age, unlike the way we were then. Not playing the blame game here, but the media has a lot to do with kids being sexually open at such an early age. Even with the sex education, they're still gonna go for what they want, because there are still other factors affecting their decision.
  • I agree with you. We have to teach children without making them curious about sex.
  • livingroomdecoration
    i didn't really understand about sex, but my heart told, i agree with you...
  • I agree with you. Having comprehensive sex education does not mean children are gonna listen. Many of them are driven by curiosity many a times!
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