[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 10, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1723-E1724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND 
               RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1998

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. VIC FAZIO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 9, 1997

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2264) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human 
     Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 1998, and for other purposes:


  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in opposition to 
the Istook amendment.
  What we have is another attempt to do away with the title X program, 
which provides funding for family planning services. Services provided 
under title X reach out to many of America's teenagers who are already 
at risk in their everyday lives.
  Family planning services are one way that these teenagers can receive 
guidance and education about issues confronting them about sex, 
reproductive health, contraception, and prevention of disease. By 
requiring teens to obtain parental consent in order to receive family 
planning services, and by mandating clinics to notify parents that 
their children are seeking such services, the Istook amendment will 
have the effect of decimating the entire family planning system in our 
country.
  The teens we need to be most concerned about--the teens we are trying 
to prevent from having unwanted pregnancies or contracting a sexually 
transmitted disease--would become even more endangered if this parental 
mandate were to take effect.
  Perhaps many people are forgetting what it means to be an at risk 
teen. At risk teens are not the children of many of us in this room 
today. At risk teens are not the children of parents they can talk to 
freely about many important issues and values that are affecting their 
everyday lives. At risk teens are more often trying to escape sexual or 
physical abuse within their own homes--even from their own parents.

[[Page E1724]]

  I encourage every teenager to talk with their parents about these 
very important issues and parents to talk responsibly with their 
children. That is why I am in support of a substitute amendment offered 
by my colleagues, Mr. Castle and Mr. Porter. The Porter substitute will 
require that title X programs encourage the involvement of parents when 
teens seek family planning services.
  Encouraging parental involvement is important, and in and ideal 
world, all teens would have parents they could feel comfortable talking 
to and be able to sort out what kind of activity is appropriate. But in 
the real world, we cannot take away an opportunity for at risk teens to 
receive essential services, by forcing a mandate upon them that will 
not work in the real world.
  I urge my colleagues to vote against the Istook amendment and support 
the Porter amendment.

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