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 Comprehensive Sex Education
Microbicides
WHAT IS COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION?
Comprehensive sex education promotes a positive view of sexuality as a natural part of human development. It provides information about sexual abstinence as well as pregnancy and disease protection, and provides teens with skills to ensure they are able to take care of their sexual health and make healthy, responsible decisions. To learn more click here>>.
OUR YOUTH NEED COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION
As young women, mothers, and grandmothers, we believe that comprehensive sex education is critical to effectively preventing the transmission of HIV. Yet many schools deny youth the information they need to keep them safe from HIV, STIs and teen pregnancies. In an effort to promote abstinence-until-marriage, from 1996 to federal fiscal year 2007, the federal and state governments have poured a collective 1.5 billion dollars into abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which take the place of comprehensive sex education. To learn more click here>>.
What is the problem with teaching abstinence?
Teaching abstinence is appropriate, if discussed among an array of many possible approaches to staying healthy, and avoiding unintended pregnancy. The problem is teaching abstinence ONLY. As required by the strict federal definition of abstinence-only education, these programs are prohibited from teaching about contraceptives, except to emphasize their failure rates. Many of these programs even include false or misleading information, such as that touching another person’s genitals can cause pregnancy, or that HIV is spread through sweat and tears.
THE PUBLIC SUPPORTS COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION
A 2004 poll by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and National Public Radio found that 77 percent of Americans believe that giving teens information about how to obtain and use condoms makes it more likely that teens will practice safe sex now or in the future. The study found further that a mere 7 percent of Americans say sex education should not be taught in schools.
YOUTH ARE SEXUALLY ACTIVE
One of the fundamental problems with abstinence-only programs is that they ignore the reality of teenage sexuality. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2005, 47% of high school students had had sex at some time. Further, that same year 34% of high school students who were then sexually active had not used a condom the last time they had had sex.
SEXUALLY ACTIVE YOUTH ARE AT RISK
- According to the CDC, almost half of all new STD infections are among youth aged 15 to 24.
- Approximately 13% of the persons diagnosed with HIV in 2004 were youth, between the ages of 13 and 24.
- In 2000, 13% of all pregnancies were among adolescents aged 15-19 (approximately 831,000 teen pregnancies). To learn more click here.
ABSTINENCE-ONLY-UNTIL-MARRIAGE PROGRAMS ARE INEFFECTIVE; COMPREHENSIVE SEXUALITY EDUCATION IS EFFECTIVE
Research has shown that youth who pledged abstinence until marriage are actually likely to have sex earlier than those who didn’t and those who were given accurate information. Pledgers were also less likely to use contraception during their “first time” and were less likely to have been tested for STIs.To learn more click here.
One study of 1,719 straight teenagers found that those who received comprehensive sex education had a 50% lower risk of pregnancy than those taught abstinence-only. To read more click here.
In other words, youth who are taught comprehensive sex ed are more likely to delay having sex, use contraception, avoid pregnancy, and get tested for STIs.
Despite clear evidence that abstinence-only programs do not work, the U.S. government still funds and promotes them. Our legislators must stop funding values-driven programs which have been shown ineffective. We must elevate above all other values the protection of the health of our youth. In order to effectively bring down the rates of infection with HIV and other STIs, and to reduce the numbers of unwanted teen pregnancies, we must provide our young people with comprehensive sexuality education.
If you, too, would like to help keep our young people healthy and safe:
- Call or write your New York State Senator and tell her or him that you support comprehensive sex education for our youth.
- Call or write your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative and tell them that you support comprehensive sex education for our youth.
Helpful Links
- “Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs: Ineffective, Unethical, and Poor Public Health.” Advocates for Youth.
- The American Psychological Association’s “Resolution In Favor of Empirically Supported Sex Education and HIV Prevention Programs for Adolescents”. February 2005. This Resolution offers an extensive array of arguments against abstinence-only programs, and in favor of comprehensive sex education, and cites many studies backing up its arguments.
- “Abstinence Only vs. Comprehensive Sex Education: What are the arguments? What is the evidence?” Chris Collins, M.P.P., Priya Alagiri, J.D., Todd Summers, Progressive Health Partners, Stephen F. Morin, Ph.D., AIDS Policy Research Center & Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, AIDS Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco. Policy Monograph Series. March 2002. This article examines studies evaluating the efficacy of comprehensive sex education, and the failure of abstinence only programs.
- An account of NYC students who testified at City Council in favor of comprehensive sex education. Learn more>>
What are microbicides?
Microbicides are “antimicrobial products” that work to prevent the transmission of HIV and other STIs during sexual intercourse. They may come in the form of creams, gels, and foams to be applied onto the vagina and/or rectum before sex.
Why are microbicides important?
Although consistent use of condoms would likely provide greater protection, microbicides offer an alternative form of HIV prevention. Microbicides are critical to women who cannot ensure use of condoms by a sexual partner, due either to refusal by the partner or condom unavailablility. In much the same way that birth control pills have given women control over their reproductive health, microbicides would offer women a desperately needed means to protect themselves, independent of their partner. In fact, scientists have estimated that even a small percentage of women using microbicides could prevent 2.5 million HIV infections during a 3 year period. To learn more, Microbicides for Prevention Research. See article 1 | article 2.
Microbicide research needs funding
In order for microbicides to become available to the public, research and development must continue. Scientists are currently working on more than 30 different kinds of microbicides. This research requires funding, however, which must come from governments as well as philanthropic donors. Spreading the word about microbicides and getting governments to fund research is key to the development and distribution of these products. To learn more click here>>.
The Microbicide Development Act
Currently, three federal agencies are engaged in microbicide research and development; U.S. Agency for International Development (US AID), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Yet no single office or individual is in charge of coordinating all of the research. The goal of the Microbicide Development Act of 2007 is to achieve better coordination and expanded resources for microbicide research and development activities at the NIH, CDC, and USAID. The Microbicide Development Act of 2007 was introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2007.
HIV Law Project was among the signatories of a letter, dated February 12, 2007, to Senators Obama and Snowe, and Representatives Shays and Schakowsky, urging introduction of the Microbicide Development Act in the 110th Congress: “Twenty-five years into the fight against AIDS, the epidemic has raged nearly unabated, with its epicenter shifting toward women and girls. Women now account for nearly half of adults living with HIV worldwide and comprise an estimated 59% of adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, being female, married and poor are often the most significant risk factors for acquiring HIV/AIDS. It is clear that current prevention methods are not sufficient and new tools must be developed and brought to market—especially alternative prevention tools that women can initiate.
We urge you to take action on the Microbicide Development Act, an important bill that would expand research for microbicides—anti-HIV gels, creams, tablets or rings that women could use to protect themselves from infection. The Microbicide Development Act would establish a clearly defined structure at the National Institutes of Health dedicated to microbicide research and development and would strengthen microbicide activities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Agency for International Development. Enactment would help focus, energize and accelerate the U.S.government’s research and development on microbicides.”
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