NC Residents Take Action... Healthy Youth Act in Trouble

The Healthy Youth Act in Trouble

[Letter to NC Planned Parenthood supporters from Steph Shaw]

I know I've already asked you to take action today about the Adolescent Parenting Programs, but something urgent just happened at the General Assembly and we need your help.

A few minutes ago the Senate Mental Health and Youth Services Committee caved to the religious right and passed a stripped down version of the Healthy Youth Act.

The version of the bill that is now headed to the Senate Floor would mandate that all children in grades 7-9 receive 5 days of medically inaccurate, biased, abstinence-only until marriage education, followed by just 2 days of comprehensive sex ed.

Please take action right now to tell this committee, as well as Senate President Pro-Tempore Marc Basnight and Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, how disappointed you are about this move.

thank you,
Steph Shaw

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Senator Charlie Dannelly
Senator Edward Jones
Senator Eleanor Kinnaird
Senator James Forrester
Senator Jim Jacumin
Senator John Snow
Senator Malcolm Graham
Senator Martin Nesbitt

Below is the sample letter:

Subject:

Dear [decision maker name],

I was deeply disappointed to learn that your committee allowed a version of the Healthy Youth Act that denies parents the right to choose their children's sex ed track to head to the Senate Floor.

It is a fact: 99.5% of parents think that information about transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS and STD's should be part of a sex education curriculum. It is also a fact that the abstinence-only until marriage curriculum, of which 5 days are mandated for every student in grades 7-9 in the new version of this bill, does not address infection transmission or provide ways for teens to keep themselves safe when they do become sexually active later in life.

Our parents and our teens deserve better than what is now a watered down version of a bill that had the potential to go so far to reduce our state's alarmingly high teen pregnancy and HIV rates.

What were you thinking?

Sincerely,

[NC Resident]

cc:
Sen Rand and Basnight