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Healthy Youth Act
Responsible Sex Education



The Healthy Youth Act requires schools that teach sex education to do so in a responsible, comprehensive manner that includes information about abstinence and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and pregnancy prevention strategies, such as birth control and condom use.

A 2008 CDC study revealed that 1 in 4 teenage girls have a STI. Additionally, there are 822,000 teen pregnancies each year in the United States. By requiring age appropriate, medically accurate and comprehensive sex education, teens will have the education they deserve to make responsible and healthy choices now and in the future.

HEALTHY YOUTH ACT NOW LAW!

Governor Doyle signed the Healthy Youth Act into law on February 24th!
Send Governor Doyle a thank you!

Healthy Youth Act (AB 458)

9/30/09 Introduced in Assembly and Senate
10/6/09 Assembly Education Committee hearing (testified/registered: 64 for; 26 against)
10/27/09 Assembly Education Committee passes bill 8-5
10/29/09 Senate Education Committee hearing (testified/registered: 90 for; 41 against)
11/5/09 Passed in Assembly 48-43
1/27/10 Senate Education Committee passes bill 4-3
1/28/10 Passed in Senate 18-15
2/24/10 Governor signed Healthy Youth Act into law!

Healthy Youth Act sponsors:
Representatives Grigsby, Roys, Shilling, Berceau, Black, Kessler, Pasch, Fields, Vruwink, Turner, Soletski, Benedict, Pope-Roberts, Richards, Seidel, Danou, Pocan, Sinicki, Hintz, Smith, Bernard Schaber, Dexter, Hraychuck, Molepske, Zepnick and Toles
Senators Taylor, Lehman, Sullivan, Plale, Miller, Risser, Robson and Erpenbach

TAKE ACTION:

Thank your Senator for passing the Healthy Youth Act!

Tell your Senator shame on your for voting against the Healthy Youth Act!

The Healthy Youth Act:

The Healthy Youth Act ensures that the most current standards of sex education are being taught in Wisconsin and that public schools are using programs proven to reduce teen pregnancy and STD rates by:

1. ensuring that Wisconsin public schools that opt to teach sex education do so in a medically accurate and age-appropriate way, including information about both abstinence and contraception to prevent pregnancies and STDs;

2. requiring a school board choosing not to provide sex education notify parents that their student will not receive any instruction in preventing unintended pregnancies and STDs;

3. directing the state to apply for any federal teen pregnancy prevention funds available to the states.

Wisconsin Teens Need Responsible Sex Education

  • Responsible sex education is age-appropriate, medically accurate and comprehensive. It includes information about both abstinence and birth control as ways to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
  • Responsible sex education give teens and young adults the tools they need to stay healthy now and in the future.
  • Responsible sex education programs do not increase sexual activity. Studies show that they can help young people delay sex and increase the use of contraceptives among those teens having sex (Kirby, 2001; Kaplan, 2001).
  • Responsible sex education has been shown to delay teen sexual behavior, and reduce the incidents of teen pregnancy and STIs.

The Consequences of Unprotected Teen Sex are Staggering

  • 45% of high schoolers self-report that they are currently sexually active. Yet only 61% of those teens used a condom during their last sexual counter.
  • According to a 2008 study by the CDC, 1 in 4 young women has an STI.
  • 20% of all new HIV infections in Wisconsin are among youth ages 15-24 years.
  • 11,000 Wisconsin teens become pregnant each year. Teen birth rates are rising in Wisconsin and new data shows that a many WI counties have teen birth rates higher than the Wisconsin and U.S. average: Menominee, Milwaukee, Sawyer, Adams, Racine, Rock, and Langlade. And the cities of Green Bay, Racine and Kenosha have teen birth rates almost double the national average.
  • Children born to teen mothers are 9 times more likely to live in poverty. And only 40% of teen moms graduate from high school, compared to 75% of young women who post-pone childbearing to age 20-21. (Why it Matters: Teen Pregnancy and Education, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen & Unintended Pregnancy).

What is Comprehensive Sex Education?

  • Comprehensive sex education programs provide young people with knowledge about the risks and consequences of pregnancy and STIs. They include medically accurate and age-appropriate information about abstinence and contraception.
  • Comprehensive sex education programs also give teens the life skills they need to say no to sex; to insist on contraception; and to communicate with parents or other trusted adults about these issues.
  • 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.
  • According to a 2007 poll of registered Wisconsin voters, 87% support requiring comprehensive sex education that includes information about both abstinence and contraception.

Abstinence-Only Education has Failed Young People

  • Since 1996, the U.S. has wasted more than $1.5 billion in federal and state funding on abstinence-only sex education that fails to teach teens how to prevent pregnancy or STIs.
  • Governor Doyle has rejected federal abstinence-only monies based on their ineffectiveness.
  • Current Wisconsin law allows school districts to decide whether sex education is included in the curriculum and whether those programs are responsible or abstinence-only.
  • There has not been a single study showing that abstinence-only sex education has any positive impact on teen behavior.
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