1.This Act may be cited as the
Responsible Education About Life
Act
.
2.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.
3.Assistance to reduce teen pregnancy,
HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases and to support healthy
adolescent development
(a)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
programsFor 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)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.
4.It is the sense of Congress that while
States are not required to provide matching funds, they are encouraged to do
so.
5.
(a)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)
(1)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)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)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)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).
6.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.
7.
(a)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)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).