Healthy Youth Act will be heard on the House Floor TOMARROW

Cross posted on Amplify

The Healthy Youth Act (HB 88) will go to a vote on the house floor tomorrow, and if it passes it will be the most important reproductive rights victory in NC in over 15 years (since the NC legislature introduced abstinence-only in the mid 1990’s.)  The Healthy Youth act has passed three committees (Education, Health, and Appropriations), and this is the FINAL STEP in passing in the state House before it moves to the state senate. 

 The Healthy Youth Act would require schools to offer a two-track system for teaching sexuality education in North Carolina – one for abstinence-until-marriage programs and another for comprehensive sex ed. Parents decide which track their child will take.  This bill is fair and logical, and it lets parents decide what information is appropriate for their children. 

This is a controversial bill and WE NEED YOUR HELP! If you live in North Carolina, PLEASE send a letter to your state representative (and also click here for Amplify's action alert).  Then, look up their phone number here and leave a voicemail telling them why comprehensive sex education is important to you. (Enter in your county or zip code and then click on your representative to see their phone number) 

Currently, North Carolinas health curriculum in middle and high school is abstinence-only-until-marriage.  It teaches that teens should wait to have sex until they are in a “committed heterosexual marriage,” and it gives no accurate or useful information about safe sex.  NC’s abstinence-only programs exaggerate the risks of sex and only talks about condoms and contraception in terms of failure rates.  

In North Carolina, 55 teen girls become pregnant every single day, and that’s 20,000 teen pregnancies a year.  North Carolina also ranks 5th in HIV contraction. Teen pregnancy cost North Carolina more then three hundred million dollars last year, and only about 3 million was spent on prevention. Abstinence only programs have completely failed teenagers for over a decade in NC, and its time for a change.  This isn't an issue of politics or an issue about sex; it’s an issue about HEALTH. Nothing is ever gained from withholding information, and comprehensive sex education will provide teens with the information they need to make safe, healthy choices.  

Comprehensive sex education provides teens with complete information about both abstinence AND safe sex. Comprehensive sex ed. has been shown to delay sexual initiation and teens who do decide to have sex are much more likely to use protection.  Comprehensive sex education is a common sense, highly needed way to reduce the number of teen pregnancies in our state.

We NEED to pass the healthy youth act, and it will take EVERYONES voice to make this happen.  Please write a letter to you representative (and click here for Planned Parenthoods action alert),  and call them and urge them to pass the important bill. Thanks!