1.This Act may be cited as the
Responsible Education About Life
Act
.
2.The Congress finds as follows:
(1)Leading public health and medical
professional organizations, including the American Medical Association
(AMA
), the American Medical Student Association
(AMSA
), 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
), the Institute of Medicine
(IOM
) and the Society of Adolescent Medicine
(SAM
), stress the need for sex 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
).
(2)A
2005 statement from the APHA urged that The U.S. Congress should
authorize and fully fund legislation that promotes comprehensive sexuality
education programs which include information about both abstinence and
contraception, include parent-child communications components; and teach
goal-setting, decision-making, negotiation, and communication skills
and that sexual health information disseminated by federal agencies, be
medically and scientifically accurate and based on theories and strategies with
demonstrated evidence of effectiveness.
In a 2006 statement, APHA
reiterated that it has strongly supported comprehensive sexuality
education that includes information about concepts of healthy sexuality, sexual
orientation and tolerance, personal responsibility, risks of HIV/AIDS and other
STDs and unwanted pregnancy, access to reproductive health care, and benefits
and risks of condoms and other contraceptive methods. Sexuality education
should be non-judgmental and support parent-child communication and should not
impose religious or ideological viewpoints upon students.
.
(3)The SAM stated in
a 2006 position paper that SAM supports a comprehensive approach to
sexual risk reduction including abstinence as well as correct and consistent
use of condoms and contraception among teens who choose to be sexually
active.
In addition, 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 STDs and unwanted pregnancy, access to
reproductive health care, and benefits and risks of condoms and other
contraceptive methods.
.
(4)Most Americans
believe that sex education should promote abstinence and provide information
about the effectiveness and benefits of contraception. According to the results
of a 2005–2006 nationally representative survey of U.S. adults, more than 8 in
10 of those polled support comprehensive sex education.
(5)There is strong
evidence that more comprehensive sex education can effectively help young
people delay sexual initiation, even as it increases contraceptive use among
sexually active youth. According to a report published by the National Campaign
to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, two-thirds of the 48
comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms
and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavioral
effects
. Many either delayed or reduced sexual activity, reduced the
number of sexual partners, or increased condom or contraceptive use.
(6)There is no
evidence that federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs are
effective in stopping or delaying teen sex. A recent, congressionally mandated
evaluation of federally funded abstinence-only programs by Mathematica Policy
Research found that these programs have no beneficial impact on whether young
people abstain, when they first have sex, or their number of sexual
partners.
(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 and faith communities.
(8)The median age at
first intercourse is 16.9 years for boys and 17.4 years for girls. However,
most do not marry until their middle or late 20s. This means that young adults
are at risk of unwanted pregnancy and STDs for nearly a decade. Therefore,
teens need access to full, complete, and medically and factually accurate
information regarding sexuality, including contraception, condoms, STD/HIV
prevention, and abstinence.
(9)From the early
1990s through the early 2000s, teen pregnancy and birth rates in the United
States all declined dramatically—primarily, but not exclusively, because of
increased and more effective contraceptive use among sexually active teens.
These declines have since stalled, however, and new data from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics
(NCHS
) indicate that teen birthrates are on the rise. NCHS
reports a 3-percent national increase between 2005 and 2006 (from 40.5 to 41.9
births per 1,000 females aged 15–19).
(10)Teen pregnancy
rates are much higher in the United States than in many other developed
countries—twice as high as in England and Wales or Canada, and eight times as
high as in the Netherlands or Japan.
(11)The decline in
the teen birthrate between 1991 and 2004 resulted in saving taxpayers
$6,700,000,000 in associated health care, child welfare, and other such costs
in 2004 alone, reducing the cost to taxpayers. Investing in effective programs
that improve teen sexual behavior by delaying sexual activity, improving
contraceptive use among teens, and reducing teen pregnancies would contribute
to reducing the taxpayer costs associated with teen childbearing.
(12)Ethnic and racial
minority groups have been disproportionately affected by early pregnancy and
parenthood. Fifty-three percent of Latina teens and 51 percent of
African-American young women will become pregnant at least once before they
turn 20, as compared to only 19 percent of non-Hispanic White young
women.
(13)The United States
has one of the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases among
industrialized nations. There are approximately 19,000,000 new cases of
sexually transmitted diseases each year, 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.
(14)Recent estimates
suggest that while 15- to 24-year-olds represent 25 percent of the sexually
active population, they acquire nearly half of all new STDs. Each year, one in
four sexually active teenagers contracts a sexually transmitted disease.
(15)Nearly 15 percent
of the 56,000 annual new cases of HIV infections in the United States occurred
in youth ages 13 through 24 in 2006. An average of one young person every hour
of every day is infected with HIV in the United States.
(16)African-American
and Latino youth have been disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS
epidemic. Although African-American adolescents ages 13 through 19 represent
only 17 percent of the adolescent population in the United States, they
accounted for 70 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases reported among teens in 2005.
Latino adolescents ages 13 through 19 accounted for 17 percent of AIDS cases
among teens, the same as their proportion of the U.S. population in 2005.
Although Latinos ages 20 through 24 represent only 18 percent of the young
adults in the United States, they accounted for 22 percent of the new AIDS
cases in 2005.
(17)Another study
found that teens who reported previous discussions of sexuality with parents
were seven times more likely to feel able to communicate with a partner about
HIV/AIDS than those who did not have such discussions with their parents.
Parental involvement is also a leading protective factor for dating violence
prevention.
(18)Incorporating
teen dating violence prevention into health education and sexuality education
is imperative given the widespread experience of violence in dating
relationships. Approximately one in three teens reports some kind of abuse in a
romantic relationship, including emotional and verbal abuse. Young women who
experience dating violence have sex earlier than their peers; are much less
likely to use birth control; and engage in a wide variety of high-risk
behaviors including multiple partners, sex with older men, and drug and alcohol
abuse. Young women who are victims of dating violence are four to six times
more likely than nonabused girls to become pregnant.
3.Assistance to
reduce teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases and to
support healthy adolescent development
(a)The Secretary of Health and Human Services may award a
grant to each eligible State, for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014,
to conduct programs of sex education described in subsection (b), including
education on both abstinence and contraception for the prevention of teenage
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
(b)Requirements for
sex education programsA program of sex education described in
this subsection is a program that—
(1)is age appropriate
and medically accurate;
(2)stresses the value
of abstinence while not ignoring those young people who have had or are having
sexual intercourse;
(3)provides
information about the health benefits and side effects of all contraceptive and
barrier methods used—
(A)as a means to
prevent pregnancy; and
(B)to reduce the risk
of contracting sexually transmitted disease, including HIV/AIDS;
(4)encourages family communication between
parent and child about sexuality;
(5)teaches young
people the skills to make responsible decisions about sexuality, including how
to avoid unwanted verbal, physical, and sexual advances and how to avoid making
verbal, physical, and sexual advances that are not wanted by the other
party;
(6)develops healthy
relationships, including the prevention of dating and sexual violence;
(7)teaches young
people how alcohol and drug use can affect responsible decisionmaking;
and
(8)does not teach or
promote religion.
(c)In carrying out a program of sex education, a State
may expend funds received under this section to carry out educational and
motivational activities that help young people to—
(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 and responsibility of each individual 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, although States are not required to provide matching funds to
receive a grant under this Act, they are encouraged to do so.
5.
(a)For the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of
programs of sex education carried out with a grant under section 3, evaluations
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 sex education carried out with grants
under section 3.
(2)The
purpose of the national evaluation under paragraph (1) 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 described in subparagraphs (A) through (D).
(3)A condition for the receipt of a grant under section 3
is that the State involved agree to cooperate with the evaluation under
paragraph (1).
(4)The Secretary shall submit to the
Congress—
(A)not later than the
end of each of fiscal years 2010 through 2013, an interim report on the
national evaluation under paragraph (1); and
(B)not later than
March 31, 2015, a final report providing the results of such national
evaluation.
(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
sex 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 grant funds under section 3 is that the State
involved agree that not more than 10 percent of such funds will be expended for
evaluation under paragraph (1).
6.Programs funded under
section 3 shall not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, national
origin, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Nothing
in this Act shall be construed to invalidate or limit rights, remedies,
procedures, or legal standards available to victims of discrimination under any
other Federal law or any law of a State or a political subdivision of a State,
including title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.),
title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), and the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.).
7.For purposes of this Act:
(1)The term age
appropriate means, with respect to topics, messages, and teaching
methods, those suitable to particular ages or age groups of children and
adolescents, based on developing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral capacity
typical for the age or age group.
(2)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.
(3)The term
HIV/AIDS means the human immunodeficiency virus, and includes
acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
(4)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.
(5)The term
Secretary means the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
(6)The term
State means the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,
American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and any other territory or possession
of the United States.
8.Authorization of
appropriations
(a)For the purpose of carrying out this Act, there is
authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010
through 2014.
(b)Of
the amounts appropriated to carry out this Act for a fiscal year, the Secretary
may not use more than—
(1)7
percent of such amounts for administrative expenses related to carrying out
this Act for that fiscal year; and
(2)10 percent of such
amounts for the national evaluation under section 5(b).