Support the Responsible Education About Life Act

SUPPORT R.E.A.L. SEX ED!

The Responsible, Realistic, Effective Approach to Sex Education

Good Health Care Policy Is Good Politics

82 Percent of Americans Support Comprehensive Sex Education¹

• Every year, almost 750,000 girls 15-19 become pregnant.²
• About half of teens are having sex and nearly two-thirds³ will have had sex by their senior year in high school.⁴
• Young people account for nearly half of the 18.9 million new STI cases each year even though they only comprise a quarter of the sexually active populace.⁵
• American teens need honest, accurate information to help them both postpone sexual activity and protect themselves if they become sexually active.

• Responsible sex education programs do not increase sexual activity, but studies demonstrate they can help young people delay sexual activity and increase contraceptive use among those who are sexually active, as well as decrease the number of partners among those who are sexually active.⁶
• Real sex education teaches abstinence as the only certain way to avoid pregnancy and STIs; encourages family communication about sexuality; and teaches skills for making responsible decisions about sex, including how to avoid unwanted verbal, physical, and sexual advances and how not to make unwanted verbal, physical, and sexual advances.
• It is irresponsible to withhold information from teens that can protect them from unintended pregnancy and dangerous infections — and that may just save their lives.

• The vast majority of parents in the United States support responsible sex education. A study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2004 reveals that parents want schools to do more in the way of preparing their children for real life. In addition to the basics of reproduction, information about HIV/AIDS and other STIs, and messages about abstinence, all of which are standard in comprehensive sex education classes, parents want the following topics to be covered by sex educators: correct use of condoms, other forms of birth control, how to get tested for STIs, and the emotional consequences of becoming sexually active.⁷
• In a 2001 poll of 1,750 registered voters, 85 percent agreed that all students should receive age-appropriate information about contraception and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Seventy percent of these voters strongly agreed (Lake, Snell, Perry & Associates, 2001).⁸
• America's leading medical and public health experts support responsible sex education, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Nurses Association, and the Society for Adolescent Medicine, as well as leading public health experts and educators like the American Public Health Association.