Letter to the Editor, "Sex Education Works," by Haydee Morales, New York Times, (12/22/07)

To the Editor:

“TV’s Perfect Girl Is Pregnant; Real Families Say, ‘Let’s Talk’ ” (front page, Dec. 21) reports that the “consensus” of some high school students “was that it was unrealistic to think that 16-year-olds would not have sex, and that someone should have talked to Ms. Spears about contraception.”

Indeed. But while Jamie Lynn Spears is currently the most public face of teenage pregnancy, the reality is that far too many teenagers are not getting the critical information they need, including how to protect themselves from pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

In New York City, nearly half of all teenagers have sex by the time they graduate from high school, yet there is no comprehensive sex education program in our city’s public schools.
As caring adults, we owe it our teenagers to makes sure they have the information they need to stay healthy and safe. Study after study confirms that comprehensive sex education does exactly that.

Haydee Morales
Vice President for Education, Training and International Planned Parenthood of New York City