[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 22878]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            REAL SEX ED WEEK

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                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 26, 2008

  Mr. HOLT. Madam Speaker, our government has spent $1.5 billion in 
what is a failed policy for our Nation's children. Our investment in 
abstinence-only education has failed in giving our teenagers the 
medically accurate, life-saving information about birth control and 
sexually transmitted infections they need to make informed decisions. 
According to the Centers for Disease Control, one out of every four 
teenage girls in the United States is infected with a sexually 
transmitted disease and 40 percent of women will get pregnant before 
they reach 20 years of age. The facts confirm what many of us here in 
Congress have been saying for years, abstinence-only programs do not 
work.
  This is a public health concern and we must reject funding for 
abstinence-only programs they are ideologically driven and are wishful 
thinking. Citizens in my district are demanding comprehensive sex 
education to keep our youth healthy and safe. A majority of voters in 
nearly every demographic category strongly support comprehensive sex 
education and want public schools to teach it, including 78 percent of 
Catholics.
  Congress must put an end to ineffective programs that only cover 
abstinence until marriage and start putting our money where it works: 
into comprehensive sex education. Our next generation is depending on 
us for accurate, lifesaving information, and it's time we gave it to 
them.

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