comprehensive sex education

Sexting for good

Submitted by Jane Brown on Sun, 01/01/2012 - 10:21am

Kids still have questions about sex that aren't getting answered in schools.

Sex education is a thorny subject for most school systems; only 13 states specify that the medical components of the programs must be accurate. Shrinking budgets and competing academic subjects have helped push it down as a curriculum priority. In reaction, some health organizations and school districts are developing Web sites and texting services as cost-effective ways to reach adolescents in the one classroom where absenteeism is never a problem: the Internet.

Every 26 seconds another teen becomes pregnant.

Submitted by teenadvocatedan on Thu, 10/22/2009 - 12:50pm

This is from a fellow teen activist in North Carolina, and the original post is on Amplify:

Every 26 seconds another teen becomes pregnant. That means that before the end of my speech, there will be another 11 young ladies faced with the difficulties of a pregnancy, the challenges of motherhood, and the chore of growing up way before their time. A rate of one teen every 26 seconds equates to 3,323 teens in one day and 1,212,923 in one year and last year, I was one of those teens. On March 31, 2008 I became pregnant at the age of 17. I, like many other girls at my school, had the daunting task of dealing the pressures of a pregnancy and continuing with my schooling. And after my daughter arrived I had to deal with the challenges of motherhood while working on graduating, all before the age of 18. My junior year in high school, I became a statistic, a statistic that could have easily been avoided.

From Birds and Bees to BrdsNBz-Sex Education by cellphone

Submitted by teenadvocatedan on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 5:48pm

 Since earlier this year, the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina (APPCNC) began providing an awesome service for teenagers called the BrdsNBz Text Message Warm Line.  BrdsNBz is a free service that allows teens in North Carolina to text a question about sex, sexual health, and relationships – receiving a response within 24 hours.  APPCNC’s overall goal for the BrdsNBz is summarized below:


CNN interview

Submitted by teenadvocatedan on Sat, 08/29/2009 - 8:40am

Cross posted on Amplify

Last Tuesday, North Carolina State Activists Lee, Joe, Eli, Emilio, Me, and Wake Teen peer education Gabi were interviewed by CNN for a story about sex education. When I first heard the news, I didn’t know what to expect. I have been extremely frustrated with TV news coverage for quite sometime because it has been shallow, inaccurate, playing to people emotions rather than peoples minds, and in FOX News’s case, coverage has been racist, full of lies, etc.  Most coverage of sex education that I have seen hasn’t been very accurate and the stories have been super short (usually 20 seconds-1 minute), and the reporters never really seem to get it. When I heard that our NC efforts were going to be on CNN I was very excited, but skeptical that the story would be any good. 

Here is our group on the CNN set:

The Healthy Youth Act signed into LAW!

Submitted by teenadvocatedan on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 2:21pm

Cross posted on Ampify

Open Mic talked about the bullying bill that passed here in North Carolina last week, and I wanted to share some more great news. HB 88, the Healthy Youth Act of North Carolina, passed it final hurdle last week at the state legislature and Gov. Purdue signed it into law today! The NC legislature website has all the versions of the bill, all the vote history, and other legislative info for those who are interested. Also, the News and Observer had a nice front-page story about the Healthy Youth Act, they were so kind as to ask me for a quote. You can check that out here.

Senator Richard Burr you are a cancer

Submitted by Aftercancer on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 8:49pm

An open letter to Senator Richard Burr

Dear Senator Burr,

Recently I wrote to you encouraging you to support comprehensive sexual education. In response you have informed me that "When teaching out children is it important that we promote safe and health choices..." You then go on to state that it is your belief that "an appropriate abstinence program reinforces these values and allows age appropriate discussion with abstinence promoted as the only option that is 100 percent effective." I could almost believe that you had thought this through until you then went on, "The limitations of contraceptives in protecting against sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies are also taught in these programs"

Healthy Youth Act will be heard on the House Floor TODAY

Submitted by teenadvocatedan on Tue, 04/14/2009 - 6:17pm

Cross-posted on Amplify
The Healthy Youth Act (HB 88) will be heard on the house floor tomorrow, and there will be a vote either tomorrow or thursday (April 16th). 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.

NC Finally Beginning To Make Sense

Submitted by tarheel_advocate on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 9:31pm

Earlier this month, a comprehensive sex education bill titled The Healthy Youth Act was filed in the NC House of Representatives! The bill would make comprehensive sex education available to 7th-9th grade students at the parent's discretion. The bill would allow parents to choose whether their child(ren) follow a abstinence-based comprehensive sex education track or an abstinence-only-until-marriage track. The unique aspect of this bill is that it allows parents to become involved in their child(ren)'s education. In fact, in a survey taken before the bill was drafted, 95% of NC parents with school-aged children believed they should have some type of involvement in what their child(ren) were learning in the classroom.

Healthy Youth Act

Submitted by teenadvocatedan on Mon, 02/09/2009 - 5:07pm

Last Thursday, February 5th, the Healthy Youth Act (House Bill 88) was officially filed in the North Carolina House of Representatives. Today, feb. 9, it will be read in. The Healthy Youth Act would require schools to offer a two-track system for teaching sex education in North Carolina- one for abstinence-only education and another for comprehensive sex education. Parents decide which track their child will take.

Time for comprehensive sex ed in NC!

Submitted by teenadvocatedan on Wed, 01/28/2009 - 7:35am

I am a teenager on the North Carolina Youth Leadership Council (NCYLC) in Chapel hill, NC. This is an exciting few weeks for us, because we are introducing the Healthy Youth Act, a bill that would put comprehensive sex education into schools in grades 7 through 9. Teens are going to be lobbying, attending a press conference, writing letters, talking to their schools, and making phone calls for this cause. I met with a NC senator from Durham to discuss this issue today, and we are working on persuading more state representatives and senators to vote for the Healthy Youth Act.

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