The Healthy Youth Act - Comprehensive Sex-Education for Wisconsin's Youth
Support the Healthy Youth Act We have a public health crisis in Wisconsin. A 2008 report released by the WI Division of Public Health found that 45 percent of high schoolers self-report that they are currently sexually active. Of those Wisconsin teens having sex, only 61 percent used a condom during their last sexual counter. The result of this risky sexual behavior is unintended pregnancies and STDs. For too long, many Wisconsin youth have not been receiving comprehensive, medically-accurate sex education in their schools. Teens are not getting the education and information they need to make safe, healthy decisions when it comes to sex and sexuality. We have come together as an Alliance because teen sexual activity and pregnancy has a deep impact for the individuals and in the communities in which we work. What is the Healthy Youth Act? - The Healthy Youth Act, LRB 3380/2 and LRB 3489/1, was circulated for co-sponsorship by State Representative Tamara Grigsby and State Senator Lena Taylor on September 21, 2009. The Healthy Youth Act is a commonsense measure to improve the health of young people throughout Wisconsin.
- The bill would require Wisconsin schools that choose to teach sex ed to provide students with comprehensive information about healthy relationships and preventing unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
- This means schools must include medically-accurate and age-appropriate information about abstinence, birth control and barrier methods to prevent unintended pregnancy and STIs. They must also teach teens about the life skills they need to say no to sex, to insist on contraception, and to communicate with parents and other trusted adults about these issues.
- In addition, the bill protects parents’ rights by ensuring that if a school board chooses not to provide sex education to students, the school board must notify parents.
Does the Legislation Reject all Teaching of Abstinence? Absolutely not. In fact, this legislation specifically says that a school’s program “Stresses the value of abstinence as the most reliable way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.” The legislation is an assurance that young people will receive fact-based, comprehensive information that includes abstinence. Cost of Comprehensive Sex Education Curriculum The typical cost of a sex ed curriculum is around $200. Impacts of Lack of Education, Unsafe Teen Sexual Activity and Pregnancy Education · 11,000 teens in WI will become pregnant this year. Parenthood is the leading cause of school drop out among teen girls. · Children of teen mothers are more likely than mothers who gave birth at age 20-21 to drop out of high school. · Only about two-thirds of children born to teen mothers earned a high school diploma compared to 81 percent of children of later child bearers. Economic Security · Teen moms are more likely to remain unmarried and live in poverty for the decade following their pregnancy. In fact, children born to teen mothers are 9 times more likely to live in poverty. · If a teen girl gives birth, is a single parent and does not complete high school, she has a 67% of living in poverty. If she experiences none of these, the chance of poverty reduces to 7%. Health · A 2009 study by the CDC found that 1 in 4 teens nationwide has at least one sexually transmitted infection (STI). Left undiagnosed or untreated, STIs can affect teens for the rest of their lives. · US teens’ sexual health outcomes are worse than their peers in other countries · Significant racial and ethnic disparities in teen sexual health outcomes Safety · Girls in high school who reported experiencing dating violence were four to six times more likely to have ever been pregnant than peers who had not experienced dating violence. · 86.2% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 44.1% reported being physically harassed and 22.1% reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation. Community Impacts · The average cost of each teen birth to Wisconsin taxpayers is $1,707 annually! For teens younger than 17, the costs are much greater—about $5,133 per teen birth per year. (The Public Costs of Teen Childbearing in Wisconsin, November 2006.) Importance of Comprehensive Sex Education · A majority of the research regarding sex education shows that only comprehensive sex education reduces teen pregnancy and STI rates, and is successful in modifying teens’ risky sexual behaviors. · The American Association of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the U.S. Institute of Medicine, and the National Education Association all support comprehensive sex education programs to prevent public health problems like STIs and unintended pregnancy. · Comprehensive sexuality education programs have been associated with positive behavior change among youth - Postponement or delay of sexual initiation
- Reduction in frequency of sexual intercourse
- Reduction in the number of sexual partner/ increase in monogamy
- Increase in the use of effective methods of contraception, including condoms
“Why it Matters: Teen Pregnancy and Education,” The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy Washington, DC. (Retrieved 2009) “Why it Matters: Teen Pregnancy, Poverty and Income Disparity,” The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy Washington, DC. (Retrieved 2009) | 
