New York Teens Lobby State Lawmakers To Pass Comprehensive Sex Education Bill

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 25 Jun 2008 - 6:00 PST

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Teenagers throughout New York state recently urged State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R) and other senators to pass the Healthy Teens Act, which would make funding available for schools to provide comprehensive sex education, Long Island Newsday reports. Intensive lobbying efforts to bring the legislation to the Senate floor before the session ended on Monday included calls and visits to senators, phone call campaigns to residents, petitions and roadside signs.

According to Newsday, the bill has passed the Assembly with bipartisan support for four years in a row but has not made it out of committee in the Senate. "Once it gets to the floor, we know it will pass," JoAnn Smith, president of Family Planning Advocates of New York State, said.

Onisha Nichols, a 15-year-old high school student, as part of a Nassau County, N.Y., teen advocacy group organized the bill's supporters to call Bruno and Senate Finance Committee members and urge lawmakers to release the bill. According to Nichols, students at Uniondale High School receive "no real sex education" with accurate information "about how they can protect themselves" against unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

In Suffolk County, N.Y., bilingual teens from Central Islip High School gathered signatures for a petition and visited Sen. Caesar Trunzo (R). Suzanne Witzenburg, acting senior vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, said, "They want to get accurate information about reproductive health to Spanish-speaking teens so they can remain healthy teens."

According to Newsday, statewide surveys have found that six out of 10 teens have sex before they graduate from high school and that nearly 40,000 teens become pregnant each year. However, studies have shown that there are fewer teen pregnancies in places where comprehensive sex education is taught. Nationwide, one in four teenage girls has an STI, according to a recent CDC study (Amon, Long Island Newsday, 6/22).

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