Family Planning Advocates of NYS '
Press Release


150 ORGANIZATIONS JOIN SENATORS TO DEMAND REAL SEX EDUCATION

With the School Year and the Legislative Session Coming to an End, the Get the Facts NY Coalition Says the Senate Must Vote on the Healthy Teens Act Before Another Class Graduates


Albany, NY (June 11, 2008)—Representatives of the 150-member Get the Facts NY Coalition joined with Members of the New York State Senate today to call for passage of the Healthy Teens Act. The bill - which has passed the Assembly with huge bi-partisan support four years in a row - must now be passed by the Senate to make resources available for schools to provide young people with real sex education.

State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer, who co-sponsors the Healthy Teens Act (A.2856/S.1342), was joined by many of her Senate colleagues and sex education advocates to call for the bill to be discharged from the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Owen Johnson. The bill is sponsored by Senator George Winner.

Lawmakers working to pass the bill were cheered by members of the Get the Facts NY Coalition and students as they discussed the urgent need to provide resources for comprehensive sex education.

The CDC recently released a national study that revealed that 1 in 4 teen girls has a sexually transmitted infection. In New York State, 6 out of every 10 teens have sex before they graduate from high school – and nearly 40,000 teens become pregnant each year. 88 percent of New Yorkers agree that students should have information about contraception and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections. Yet New York still does not have a dedicated funding stream to support comprehensive sex education in schools.

"Parents want their children to get honest, accurate sex education in school. We have a duty to provide teens with the basic information they need to make healthy decisions throughout their lives," said JoAnn M. Smith, president and CEO of Family Planning Advocates of New York State. "The Senate cannot let another school year end without passing the Healthy Teens Act."

"Young people are continually exposed to sexually explicit information through television, movies, magazines and the Internet," said Dr. Carrin E. Schotter-Thal, MD, FAAP, representing the American Academy of Pediatrics, District II, NYS. "They need access to understandable and accurate information to build their personal capacity to make informed decisions about their health and sexual activity."

"The kids I see every day act like they know a lot about sex," said Claire Skotnes, a high school senior. "They want to appear confident, they want to feel and act like adults. Teens think they can look anything up on the Internet—so we don't always ask questions. The problem is, a lot of what we find on the Internet is wrong or incomplete. We need the facts. We need medically accurate, complete sex education."

"Too many young people are left to make potentially life-changing decisions without accurate information and resources," said Reina Schiffrin, president/CEO, Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic. "New York must act now to establish comprehensive sex education programs for our teens. We urge Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno to bring the Healthy Teens Act to the Senate floor and pass this important bill this year."

"Teachers and health-related professionals should have the resources they need to enable students to make safe and responsible choices," said Alan Lubin, executive vice president of the New York State United Teachers.

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150 Organizations Join Senators to Demand Real Sex Education
June 11, 2008
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"Given our own organization's research, and our years of experience providing comprehensive sexuality education, Girls Incorporated of the Greater Capital Region supports the inclusion of comprehensive sexuality education in all of the New York State public schools," said Teri Bordenave, president/CEO of Girls Incorporated of the Greater Capital Region. "To invest our taxpayer dollars on anything less effective is a tragedy!"

"We can no longer ignore," said Patricia McGeown, president/CEO of Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood, "the impact of ineffective and misguided sex education policies on the health and lives of our children. Every week we see young girls who still think they cannot get pregnant the first time they have sex; who have never heard of the word chlamydia until they test positive for the infection. More and more, we talk to young people who have been told in health classes that condoms don't work. The price is paid in rising rates of sexually transmitted infections, rising teen birth rates, rising health care expenses and ruined lives. This must stop! What reason can possibly be given for holding up a bill that would provide schools with funds to improve and expand medically accurate sex education?"

"BirthNet supports the Healthy Teens Act because we believe that accurate, age-appropriate reproductive health education will provide young women and men with a foundation for understanding their bodies and for healthy behavior that will serve them throughout their lives and is vital to the health and well being of teens and of the adults they will become," said Carolyn Keefe, co-founder of BirthNet.

"Our teens deserve to know the facts about sex to help them make responsible decisions," said Carol Love, president/CEO, Planned Parenthood of the Rochester/Syracuse Region. "This common sense approach should be something we can all agree on."

"NASW-NYS strongly supports comprehensive, age-appropriate, culturally competent sex education and as such urges enactment of the Healthy Teens Act, an initiative to address the disturbingly high number of incidents of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in our teen population," said Reinaldo Cardona, MSSW, LCSW, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers-NYS.

"Clergy from many different denominations believe that teens need the potentially life-saving information that comprehensive sex education provides," said Rabbi Dennis S. Ross, director of Concerned Clergy for Choice. "As teachers and counselors of teens and their families, we know how complicated life can become. When teens have the truth, they can make informed decisions and keep themselves safe and healthy."

"The health of young people is not being adequately addressed in our schools," said Fiona Murray, a student at SUNY-Geneseo. "Each year, more of my classmates become pregnant and affected by sexually transmitted infections. I can't help but think that if we had better sex education in high school, their lives could be different."

"The Healthy Teens Act would give schools and communities the resources to provide teens with vital information to help them stay healthy," Scott Heyman, interim CEO/president, Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes. "Teens need access to information that can help them prevent unintended pregnancy
and sexually transmitted infections. The Senate can make that happen by passing the Healthy Teens Act."

"Teen dating violence and date rape are prevalent problems that threaten the safety and well-being of New York's teenage girls," according to Patti Jo Newell, deputy director at the NYS Coalition Against Domestic Violence. "The specter of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections further intensifies those dangers. New York must pass the Healthy Teens Act as a key element in its response to teen dating violence and date rape."

"This legislation has passed the Assembly with tremendous support from both Democrats and Republicans four years in a row," said Clare Coleman, president of Planned Parenthood of the Mid-Hudson Valley. "It's time for the Senate to pass the Healthy Teens Act and reduce the high rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection that afflict our schools."