[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 972 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 972

 To provide for the reduction of adolescent pregnancy, HIV rates, and 
      other sexually transmitted diseases, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 22, 2007

  Mr. Lautenberg (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Schumer, 
 Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Harkin, and Mr. Brown) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the reduction of adolescent pregnancy, HIV rates, and 
      other sexually transmitted diseases, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Responsible Education About Life 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The American Medical Association (``AMA''), the 
        American Nurses Association (``ANA''), the American Academy of 
        Pediatrics (``AAP''), the American College of Obstetricians and 
        Gynecologists (``ACOG''), the American Public Health 
        Association (``APHA''), and the Society of Adolescent Medicine 
        (``SAM'') support responsible sexuality education that includes 
        information about both abstinence and contraception.
            (2) Recent scientific reports by the Institute of Medicine, 
        the American Medical Association, and the Office on National 
        AIDS Policy stress the need for sexuality education that 
        includes messages about abstinence and provides young people 
        with information about contraception for the prevention of teen 
        pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases 
        (``STDs'').
            (3) Government-funded abstinence-only-until-marriage 
        programs are precluded from discussing contraception except to 
        talk about failure rates. An October 2006 report from the 
        Government Accountability Office concluded that the current 
        administration of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs by 
        the Department of Health and Human Services (``HHS'') fails to 
        require medical accuracy of the vast majority of funded 
        programs and that no regular monitoring of medical accuracy is 
        being carried out by HHS. The Government Accountability Office 
        also reported on the Department's total lack of appropriate and 
        customary measurements to determine if funded programs are 
        effective. In addition, a separate letter from the Government 
        Accountability Office in October 2006 to the Secretary of 
        Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt contained a legal 
        finding that the Department was in violation of Federal law, in 
        particular section 317P(c)(2) of the Public Health Services Act 
        (42 U.S.C. 247b-17(c)(2)), for not requiring abstinence-only-
        until-marriage programs to provide full and medically accurate 
        information about the effectiveness of condoms. The Department 
        has argued that the abstinence-only-until-marriage programs are 
        exempt from the law; however, the Government Accountability 
        Office disagrees.
            (4) A 2006 statement from the American Public Health 
        Association (``APHA'') ``recognizes the importance of 
        abstinence education, but only as part of a comprehensive 
        sexuality education program. . . . APHA calls for repealing 
        current federal funding for abstinence-only programs and 
        replacing it with funding for a new Federal program to promote 
        comprehensive sexuality education, combining information about 
        abstinence with age-appropriate sexuality education.''.
            (5) The Society for Adolescent Medicine (``SAM'') in a 2006 
        position paper found the following: ``Efforts to promote 
        abstinence should be provided within health education programs 
        that provide adolescents with complete and accurate information 
        about sexual health, including information about concepts of 
        healthy sexuality, sexual orientation and tolerance, personal 
        responsibility, risks of HIV and other STIs and unwanted 
        pregnancy, access to reproductive health care, and benefits and 
        risks of condoms and other contraceptive methods. . . . Current 
        funding for abstinence-only programs should be replaced with 
        funding for programs that offer comprehensive, medically 
        accurate sexuality education''.
            (6) Research shows that teenagers who receive sexuality 
        education that includes discussion of contraception are more 
        likely than those who receive abstinence-only messages to delay 
        sexual activity and to use contraceptives when they do become 
        sexually active.
            (7) Comprehensive sexuality education programs respect the 
        diversity of values and beliefs represented in the community 
        and will complement and augment the sexuality education 
        children receive from their families.
            (8) The median age of puberty is 13 years and the average 
        age of marriage is over 26 years old. American teens need 
        access to full, complete, and medically and factually accurate 
        information regarding sexuality, including contraception, STD/
        HIV prevention, and abstinence.
            (9) Although teen pregnancy rates are decreasing, the 
        United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the 
        industrialized world with between 750,000 and 850,000 teen 
        pregnancies each year. Between 75 and 90 percent of teen 
        pregnancies among 15- to 19-year olds are unintended.
            (10) A November 2006 study of declining pregnancy rates 
        among teens concluded that the reduction in teen pregnancy 
        between 1995 and 2002 is primarily the result of increased use 
        of contraceptives. As such, it is critically important that 
        teens receive accurate, unbiased information about 
        contraception.
            (11) More than eight out of ten Americans believe that 
        young people should have information about abstinence and 
        protecting themselves from unplanned pregnancies and sexually 
        transmitted diseases.
            (12) The United States has the highest rate of infection 
        with sexually transmitted diseases of any industrialized 
        country. In 2005, there were approximately 19,000,000 new cases 
        of sexually transmitted diseases, almost half of them occurring 
        in young people ages 15 to 24. According to the Centers for 
        Disease Control and Prevention, these sexually transmitted 
        diseases impose a tremendous economic burden with direct 
        medical costs as high as $14,100,000,000 per year.
            (13) Each year, teens in the United States contract an 
        estimated 9.1 million sexually transmitted infections. Each 
        year, one in four sexually active teens contracts a sexually 
        transmitted disease.
            (14) Nearly half of the 40,000 annual new cases of HIV 
        infections in the United States occur in youth ages 13 through 
        24. Approximately 50 young people a day, an average of two 
        young people every hour of every day, are infected with HIV in 
        the United States.
            (15) African-American and Latino youth have been 
        disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Although 
        African-American adolescents ages 13 through 19 represent only 
        15 percent of the adolescent population in the United States, 
        they accounted for 73 percent of new AIDS cases reported among 
        teens in 2004. Although Latinos ages 20 through 24 represent 
        only 18 percent of the young adults in the United States, they 
        accounted for 23 percent of the new AIDS cases in 2004.

SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE TO REDUCE TEEN PREGNANCY, HIV/AIDS, AND OTHER 
              SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES AND TO SUPPORT HEALTHY 
              ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) In General.--Each eligible State shall be entitled to receive 
from the Secretary of Health and Human Services, for each of the fiscal 
years 2008 through 2012, a grant to conduct programs of family life 
education, including education on both abstinence and contraception for 
the prevention of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, 
including HIV/AIDS.
    (b) Requirements for Family Life Programs.--For purposes of this 
Act, a program of family life education is a program that--
            (1) is age-appropriate and medically accurate;
            (2) does not teach or promote religion;
            (3) teaches that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid 
        pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases;
            (4) stresses the value of abstinence while not ignoring 
        those young people who have had or are having sexual 
        intercourse;
            (5) provides information about the health benefits and side 
        effects of all contraceptives and barrier methods as a means to 
        prevent pregnancy;
            (6) provides information about the health benefits and side 
        effects of all contraceptives and barrier methods as a means to 
        reduce the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, 
        including HIV/AIDS;
            (7) encourages family communication about sexuality between 
        parent and child;
            (8) teaches young people the skills to make responsible 
        decisions about sexuality, including how to avoid unwanted 
        verbal, physical, and sexual advances and how not to make 
        unwanted verbal, physical, and sexual advances; and
            (9) teaches young people how alcohol and drug use can 
        effect responsible decisionmaking.
    (c) Additional Activities.--In carrying out a program of family 
life education, a State may expend a grant under subsection (a) to 
carry out educational and motivational activities that help young 
people--
            (1) gain knowledge about the physical, emotional, 
        biological, and hormonal changes of adolescence and subsequent 
        stages of human maturation;
            (2) develop the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure 
        and protect their sexual and reproductive health from 
        unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease, 
        including HIV/AIDS throughout their lifespan;
            (3) gain knowledge about the specific involvement of and 
        male responsibility in sexual decisionmaking;
            (4) develop healthy attitudes and values about adolescent 
        growth and development, body image, gender roles, racial and 
        ethnic diversity, sexual orientation, and other subjects;
            (5) develop and practice healthy life skills including 
        goal-setting, decisionmaking, negotiation, communication, and 
        stress management;
            (6) promote self-esteem and positive interpersonal skills 
        focusing on relationship dynamics, including, but not limited 
        to, friendships, dating, romantic involvement, marriage and 
        family interactions; and
            (7) prepare for the adult world by focusing on educational 
        and career success, including developing skills for employment 
        preparation, job seeking, independent living, financial self-
        sufficiency, and workplace productivity.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that while States are not required to 
provide matching funds, they are encouraged to do so.

SEC. 5. EVALUATION OF PROGRAMS.

    (a) In General.--For the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of 
programs of family life education carried out with a grant under 
section 3, evaluations of such program shall be carried out in 
accordance with subsections (b) and (c).
    (b) National Evaluation.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall provide for a national 
        evaluation of a representative sample of programs of family 
        life education carried out with grants under section 3. A 
        condition for the receipt of such a grant is that the State 
        involved agree to cooperate with the evaluation. The purposes 
        of the national evaluation shall be the determination of--
                    (A) the effectiveness of such programs in helping 
                to delay the initiation of sexual intercourse and other 
                high-risk behaviors;
                    (B) the effectiveness of such programs in 
                preventing adolescent pregnancy;
                    (C) the effectiveness of such programs in 
                preventing sexually transmitted disease, including HIV/
                AIDS;
                    (D) the effectiveness of such programs in 
                increasing contraceptive knowledge and contraceptive 
                behaviors when sexual intercourse occurs; and
                    (E) a list of best practices based upon essential 
                programmatic components of evaluated programs that have 
                led to success in subparagraphs (A) through (D).
            (2) Report.--A report providing the results of the national 
        evaluation under paragraph (1) shall be submitted to the 
        Congress not later than March 31, 2011, with an interim report 
        provided on a yearly basis at the end of each fiscal year.
    (c) Individual State Evaluations.--
            (1) In general.--A condition for the receipt of a grant 
        under section 3 is that the State involved agree to provide for 
        the evaluation of the programs of family education carried out 
        with the grant in accordance with the following:
                    (A) The evaluation will be conducted by an 
                external, independent entity.
                    (B) The purposes of the evaluation will be the 
                determination of--
                            (i) the effectiveness of such programs in 
                        helping to delay the initiation of sexual 
                        intercourse and other high-risk behaviors;
                            (ii) the effectiveness of such programs in 
                        preventing adolescent pregnancy;
                            (iii) the effectiveness of such programs in 
                        preventing sexually transmitted disease, 
                        including HIV/AIDS; and
                            (iv) the effectiveness of such programs in 
                        increasing contraceptive knowledge and 
                        contraceptive behaviors when sexual intercourse 
                        occurs.
            (2) Use of grant.--A condition for the receipt of a grant 
        under section 3 is that the State involved agree that not more 
        than 10 percent of the grant will be expended for the 
        evaluation under paragraph (1).

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act:
            (1) The term ``eligible State'' means a State that submits 
        to the Secretary an application for a grant under section 3 
        that is in such form, is made in such manner, and contains such 
        agreements, assurances, and information as the Secretary 
        determines to be necessary to carry out this Act.
            (2) The term ``HIV/AIDS'' means the human immunodeficiency 
        virus, and includes acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
            (3) The term ``medically accurate'', with respect to 
        information, means information that is supported by research, 
        recognized as accurate and objective by leading medical, 
        psychological, psychiatric, and public health organizations and 
        agencies, and where relevant, published in peer review 
        journals.
            (4) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Health 
        and Human Services.

SEC. 7. APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--For the purpose of carrying out this Act, there 
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for 
each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012.
    (b) Allocations.--Of the amounts appropriated under subsection (a) 
for a fiscal year--
            (1) not more than 7 percent may be used for the 
        administrative expenses of the Secretary in carrying out this 
        Act for that fiscal year; and
            (2) not more than 10 percent may be used for the national 
        evaluation under section 5(b).
                                 <all>