APPLY FOR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

EDUCATION PROGRAM (PREP) FUNDING

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/foa/view/HHS-2010-ACF-ACYF-PREP-0125

States are encouraged to apply for this new federal funding that supports comprehensive approaches to sexuality education. PREP will fund medically accurate and evidence-based programs that meet the needs of young people so that they can make healthy decisions.

  • PREP is the first ever state-grant program from the federal government to support teaching teens how to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS, and addressing the skills necessary to help young people lead healthy, successful lives.
  • Scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports a comprehensive approach to sexuality education. Teens who receive sexuality education that discusses the importance of waiting to have sex (abstinence) and provides complete, accurate information about contraception are more likely than those who receive abstinence-only-until-marriage messages to delay sexual activity and use contraception when they do become sexually active.
  • The new PREP program will allow states to work with schools and community partners to prepare young people to make healthy decisions.

“PREP” IS NEEDED TO PROTECT YOUNG PEOPLE’S HEALTH

Teens need accurate, complete information to help them both postpone sexual activity and protect themselves when they do become sexually active.

  • The United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the industrialized world. For the first time in more than a decade, the nation’s teen pregnancy rate rose 3% in 2006, at the same time that teens were receiving less information about contraception in schools and their use of contraceptives was declining.[1]
  • While young people in the U.S. ages 15–25 make up only one-quarter of the sexually active population, they contract about half of the 19 million STDs annually.[2]
  • Young people ages 13–24 account for nearly one-sixth of the estimated 56,300 new HIV infections each year. Every hour, one young person is infected with HIV.[3]

COMPREHENSIVE SEXUALITY EDUCATION WORKS

There is clear evidence that more comprehensive approaches to sexuality education are effective. PREP-funded programs are required to replicate evidence-based effective programs or substantially incorporate elements of effective programs.

  • Comprehensive sex ed has been found to be effective in delaying first sexual intercourse, reducing the number of sexual partners, and increasing contraception/condom use among teens.
  • In November 2007, Emerging Answers 2007, an authoritative and comprehensive review of research findings on the effectiveness of HIV and sexuality education programs, was released.

This review of rigorously evaluated programs showed many positive results, including:[4]

  • “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 partners, or increased condom or contraceptive use.
  • None of the comprehensive programs hastened the initiation or increased the frequency of sex.
  • Research has found that teens who said they received comprehensive sexuality education are 50 percent less likely to experience an unintended pregnancy.[5]

LEADING MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL GROUPS SUPPORT COMPREHENSIVE SEX ED

Nearly every medical and public health agency in the U.S. and around the world supports age-appropriate and medically accurate comprehensive sexuality education that addresses the real health needs of adolescents.

  • Leading public health and medical professional organizations all stress the need for sexuality education that includes messages about abstinence, information about contraception to prevent teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other STIs, and the skills to remain healthy and safe. Some of these supporters include the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, [American Psychological Association, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, The Institute of Medicine, Society of Adolescent Medicine, American Nurses Association, and the American Public Health Association. ]
  • The American Medical Association “urges schools to implement comprehensive, developmentally appropriate sexuality education programs” and “supports federal funding of comprehensive sexuality education programs that stress the importance of abstinence in preventing unwanted teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, and also teach about contraceptive choices and safer sex.[6]

COMPREHENSIVE SEX ED IS SUPPORTED BY THE VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS

The overwhelming majority of Americans, including parents, support programs that are medically accurate, age-appropriate, evidence-based, and educate youth both about waiting to have sex and using contraception effectively.

  • According to the results of a 2005-2006 nationally representative survey of U.S. adults published in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, more than eight in 10 polled support comprehensive sexuality education.[7]
  • A survey conducted by the Kennedy School of Government, Kaiser Family Foundation, and NPR found that over 90% of parents of middle school and high school students believe it is very or somewhat important to have sexuality education as part of the school curriculum. The vast majority polled support “comprehensive sex education programs” instead of programs that have “abstaining from sexual activity” as their only purpose.[8]
  • A majority of voters in nearly every demographic category, including Democrats, Republicans, and independents, as well as Catholics and evangelical Christians, support comprehensive sexuality education.[9]

1

[1] Kathryn Kost, Stanley Henshaw and Liz Carlin, U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births and Abortions:National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity, (Washington, DC: Guttmacher Institute, 2010)

[2] Hillard Weinstock et al., Sexually transmitted diseases among American youth: incidence and prevalence estimates, 2000, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2004, 36(1):6–10.

[3] HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, 2006. (Atlanta: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2008);18:11.

[4] Doug Kirby, Emerging Answers 2007: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, (Washington, DC: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2007).

[5] Kohler et al. “Abstinence-only and Comprehensive Sex Education and the Initiation of Sexual Activity and Teen Pregnancy.” Journal of Adolescent Health, 42(4): 344-351.

[American Psychological Association, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, The Institute of Medicine, Society of Adolescent Medicine, American Nurses Association, and the American Public Health Association. ]

[6] Policy Statement, H-170.968 Sexuality Education, Abstinence, and Distribution of Condoms in Schools, American Medical Association, accessed 04 January 2007, < See SIECUS Fact Sheet In Good Company for more examples and complete citations: <

[7] Amy Bleakley, PhD, MPH; Michael Hennessy, PhD, MPH; Martin Fishbein, PhD, Public Opinion on Sex Education in US Schools, Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine,. 2006;160:1151-1156.

[8] Sex Education in America: General Public/Parents Survey (Washington, DC: National Public Radio, Kaiser Family Foundation, Kennedy School of Government, 2004).

[9] Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc., “Memorandum: Application of Research Findings,” (Washington, DC: Planned Parenthood Federation of America and National Women’s Law Center, 12 July 2007), accessed 2 October 2007, <