Laura has been doing a great job of getting interesting speakers for Drinking Liberally, and last nights’ speaker was a good example. Laura invited Missy Bird, the executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Council. Missy talked about the proposed sex education bill and the discussion it’s already gotten despite not being an actual bill yet. The Salt Lake Tribune has a good article that talks about some of what’s already been going on, like Senator Chris Buttars flying out an “expert” to try and discredit groups like Planned Parenthood and comprehensive sex education.

Missy also had some interesting statistics that illustrated the need for comprehensive sex education, like:

• Every day in Utah 12 teenage girls aged 15-19 become pregnant. In 2007, 4356 young girls in Utah, ages 15-19, became pregnant. (According to the Utah Department of Health – 2007)
• In 2007, 62% of births to unmarried mothers were to those under the age of 24. 2747 of those births were to unmarried mothers under the age of 19 (again according to the Utah Department of Health, 2007)
• In a 2006 national survey, 26% of high school students who dropped out of school said that they did so because they became parents. (The Silent Epidemic, Civic Enterprises, Peter D. Hart Research Associates, produces for Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)
• In 2007, 72% of 15-17 year old girls who give birth reported that their pregnancy was unintended. Of 18-19 year old girls, the number was 67%. (Utah Department of Health, 2007)
• Roughly 57% of new chlamydia infections and 42% of new gonorrhea infections occur among youth ages 15-24. (Utah Department of Health, 2007)
• In Utah, you’re more likely to get chlamydia than you are H1N1 flu.

Of course there’s going to be a lot of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) spread about the bill, so here’s the gist what Representative Lynn Hemingway (D-Holladay) is proposing (from PPAC’s website):

• Rep. Hemingway’s bill provides parents a choice of two tracks for reproductive health education for their kids. Parents CHOOSE the track in which their child will be enrolled. Both tracks teach that abstinence is the only 100% effective means of preventing pregnancy and STDs, but the comprehensive option includes medically accurate information about contraception, avoiding pregnancy and STDs, and preventing sexual assault through the teaching of healthy relationship skills.
• Rep. Hemingway is trying to address serious health issues that our teens are dealing with in Utah. This bill offers one more tool that parents, educators, and health care professionals can use to address Utah’s rising teen pregnancy and STD rates. Chlamydia is the #1 communicable disease in Utah and 12 teenage girls a day get pregnant. Parents deserve to have a choice in their children’s reproductive health education.
• Studies show that teens who receive comprehensive reproductive health information have lower rates of teenage pregnancy and STD’s than those receiving abstinence-only education. Comprehensive reproductive health education does NOT increase rates of sexual activity; rather, it helps delay initial onset of sexual activity and increases rates of protection among those who are already sexually active.
• Rep. Hemingway’s bill addresses the fear that teachers experience because of current law. While the current law allows for comprehensive information to be given, local school districts across the state have widely varying health curricula and kids are receiving very different information based on where they live. Teachers are afraid of serious penalties if they fun afoul of strict local guidelines that often restrict them from answering kids’ questions or using precise, medically accurate language.
• Will kids be exposed to sexually explicit material? NO The information that will be presented will be age-appropriate and medically accurate. This is not a class that teaches “how to have sex,” nor does it encourage sexual activity. We simply want kids, whose parents approve, to have access to the information they need to make smart decisions about their health and know the possible consequences of those decisions.
• Will the two education choices result in two “extremes”? NO The abstinence-only track simply reiterates current law and would still contain some limited discussion of contraception and STDs, while the comprehensive track would cover these subjects more in depth. Because parents would also have the choice of opting out of any reproductive health education altogether, the options they have clearly cover the vast majority of possibilities of parents’ wishes.
• Will some kids from the comprehensive class “talk”? NO The truth is that all kids are talking, but mostly in myths in half-truths. Despite even the most vigilant parents’ best efforts, every child is hearing things in the hallways and the locker rooms that would surprise most of us. We simply want to provide a resource for those who want it that can combat these untruths and provide accurate information in its place.

It seems to be pretty clear from the stats that what we’re doing now isn’t working. Many of these kids try to live up to their religious obligation to not have sex prior to marriage, but then look for ‘loopholes’ like oral or anal sex (There’s even a saying: if it’s anal or oral, it’s moral). This reduces the risk of pregnancy, but not necessarily STD’s. Floating (penetration but then no movement) is a new ‘loophole’ that doesn’t really reduce either risk. Don’t ask me what you do to pass the time while you’re floating – the whole concept seems pretty asinine to me.

Our DL crowd has a fair amount of educators and people in the medical service field, and they know exactly how bad the problem is. People like me who have very little interaction with kids are always surprised to hear the stories and statistics. It’s an awareness issue, so if you have some insight into the reality of our current failing system, write a letter to the editor. If you’re a parent, urge your congress people to support the bill. And if you’re neither of these or either of these, support health care groups like Planned Parenthood.