109 HR 5598 IH: Guarantee of Medical Accuracy in Sex U.S. House of Representatives 2006-06-13 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I 109th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 5598 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 13, 2006 Mr. Gutierrez (for himself, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mr. Honda, Mr. Farr, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mrs. Capps, Ms. Lee, Mr. Miller of North Carolina, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Stark, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. Larsen of Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To prohibit departments, agencies, and other instrumentalities of the Federal Government from providing assistance to an entity for the development of course material or the provision of instruction on human development and sexuality, if such material or instruction will include medically inaccurate information, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Guarantee of Medical Accuracy in Sex Education Act.

2.

Findings

The Congress finds as follows: (1)All federally funded programs aimed at helping young people make healthy decisions regarding their relationships and sexual health should include medically accurate information. (2)A 2004 report from the Minority Office of the Committee on Government Reform of the House of Representatives found serious medical inaccuracies associated with a large majority of federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. (3)The Society for Adolescent Medicine (SAM) found in a 2006 position paper that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs provide incomplete and/or misleading information and states that efforts to promote abstinence should be based on sound science. (4)The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have also expressed the importance of ensuring that all federally funded sexuality education programs include information that is medically accurate and complete. (5)The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) believes that children and adolescents need accurate and comprehensive education about sexuality to practice healthy sexual behavior as adults. (6)The American Public Health Association (APHA) recognize[s] that sexuality is a normal, healthy aspect of human development … and that individuals of all ages require complete and accurate information about all aspects of sexuality. APHA endorses the right of children and youth to receive comprehensive sexuality education that includes facts, information, and data and that demonstrates an appreciation of racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity. (7)The American Medical Association urges schools to implement comprehensive, developmentally appropriate sexuality education programs that are based on rigorous, peer reviewed science. (8)Over 1 billion dollars in citizen taxpayer money has been spent on abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in the past quarter century without significant monitoring of the content of these programs in order to guarantee they contain medically accurate information and exclude inaccurate data.

3.

Medically inaccurate sex education

(a)

Requirements

A department, agency, or other instrumentality of the Federal Government shall not provide funds or other assistance to an entity for the development of course material or the provision of instruction on human development and sexuality, including any sex education, family life education, abstinence education, comprehensive health education, or character education, if such material or instruction will include medically inaccurate information. Before providing such funds or other assistance, the department, agency, or instrumentality shall require a sufficient assurance that such material or instruction will not include medically inaccurate information. (b)

Definitions

In this Act, the term medically inaccurate information means information related to medical, psychiatric, psychological, empirical, or statistical statements that is unsupported or contradicted by peer-reviewed research by leading medical, psychological, psychiatric, and public health organizations and agencies.