Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin

FACT SHEET

 

Support the Responsible Sex Education Initiative

 

 

The Responsible Sex Education Initiative, AB 690 and SB 340, works to ensure that sex education taught in Wisconsin’s schools is scientifically-based and comprehensive, including information about abstinence and the prevention of unintended pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) through the use of contraceptives.  Comprehensive sex ed has been shown to delay teen sexual behavior, and reduce the incidents of teen pregnancy and STIs.

The truth is that teens are often sexually active.  

 

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), by grade 12 well over 60% of all high school students have engaged in sexual activity.  (CDC, Youth risk behavior surveillance summary—U.S. 2003, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 2004.)

 

·                   Each year, 9.1 million STI cases occur in teens:

 

1.        Teens account for nearly half of all new STI cases annually, even though they make up only 25% of the sexually active population.

 

2.        One in four sexually active teens contracts an STD. 

 

3.        Young women are biologically more susceptible to Chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV.  (CDC, Tracking the Hidden Epidemics:  Trends in STDs in the US, 2000.)

 

4.        Compared to adults, adolescents 10-19 years of age are at higher risk for acquiring STIs—they are more likely to have multiple partners, more likely to engage in unprotected intercourse and more likely to select higher risk partners.  (U.S. DHHS, Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, 1999.)

 

·                   Approximately 822,000 pregnancies occur annually among women age 15-19, over 80% of them are unintended. 

 

1.        The United States teen pregnancy rates are significantly higher than most other developed countries.

2.        Thirteen percent of all U.S. births are to teens.  80% of these are unintended.

3.        Teens that give birth are much more likely to be impoverished during their 20s and early 30s (28% versus only 7% of women who do not have teen births).

4.        Teenaged mothers are much less likely to attend college than women who delay childbearing.

 

·                   In Wisconsin, the statistics are clear:

 

1.       Over 12,000 teens will become pregnant this year.

2.       Milwaukee has the second highest African American teen pregnancy rate and the highest African American high school drop out rate in the country.

3.       Wisconsin has the fourteenth highest Chlamydia rate and the 21st highest syphilis rate in the country.

 

Studies Show that Abstinence-Only Education is Not Effective in Changing Adolescent Sexual Behavior

 

o                  Recent examples of the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only education have been uncovered by the states.  For example:

1.        The Minnesota Health Department found no impact from the state’s abstinence only curriculum on teen sexual behaviors;

2.        Arizona completed a four-year evaluation of its abstinence only program, only to find that sexual behavior rates did not change at all during that time;

3.        Pennsylvania found that its abstinence only program was largely ineffective in reducing the onset of sexual behavior and in promoting skills consistent with abstinence.

 

o                  In fact, in 2004 Rep. Henry Waxman released an unprecedented study on federally funded abstinence only programs.  He found that 80% of the most popular curriculum contained false or misleading information about reproductive health.

 

Wisconsin’s Current Policy on Sex Education Is Not Responsible

 

Wisconsin law encourages, but does not require school boards to provide sex education curriculum.  Under current law, curriculum does not have to include any information about contraception or preventing STIs.  In addition, Wisconsin received $1,790,852 million (FY 2004) in federal-abstinence-only funding that the state was required to match.  None of these funds could be used for responsible sex education that included instruction in unintended pregnancy and STI prevention through other methods besides abstinence. 

Sex Education that includes both Abstinence and Contraception Instruction Reduces Teen Pregnancy and STI Rates. 

 

Research demonstrates that successful sex education programs employ a comprehensive approach.  This means that teens are taught about abstinence, but they are also given critical information about additional ways to prevent unintended pregnancy and disease. 

 

·                   In a July 2005 policy report, the American Association of Pediatrics concluded that sexuality education programs must include both abstinence instruction and contraceptive instruction to be effective in reducing teen pregnancy and STI rates.

 

·                   According to a 2003 study about the teen pregnancy rates, 75% of the reduction in teen pregnancies over the last 20 years can be attributed to greater and more effective contraceptive use.  AGI (2003). 

 

·                   Research has been clear that comprehensive sexuality programs do not hasten the onset of sexual intercourse, do not increase the frequency of sexual intercourse, and do not increase the number of partners that teens have.  (SIECUS Report, Aug/Sept 2001).

 

·                   According to a 2001 report by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen pregnancy, sex and HIV education programs that discuss both abstinence and contraception:

o        delay sex and reduce the frequency of sex;

o        increase contraceptive use;

o        do not hasten the onset of sexual intercourse, the frequency of sexual intercourse or the number of sexual partners.

 

The public supports comprehensive sexuality education for teenagers.

 

According to a 2004 Wisconsin poll, 77% of Wisconsin voters prefer abstinence-plus education that includes instruction on contraception and prevention.