By Paige Johnson
What do North Carolina’s signature Smart Start and More at Four programs for preschoolers have in common with comprehensive sex education? All three efforts do what sound public policy is intended to do. They make wise use of our investment in preparing young people for future success.
More at Four and comprehensive sex education also provide Gov. Easley with an opportunity to make a lasting impact on the well-being of North Carolina’s young, the way Smart Start did for Gov. Hunt.
Gov. Easley has championed More at Four, aimed at preparing four year olds to succeed as students throughout their academic lives. Our middle and high school students deserve the same attention and preparation for future success.
To help young adults gain access to lifesaving information that will prepare them for a healthy tomorrow, Gov. Easley should reject the federal government’s highly restrictive Title V Abstinence Only Sex Education money and establish state support for comprehensive sex education.
All young North Carolinians deserve the opportunity to succeed. Gov. Easley has proven himself a champion of education, taking controversial stands in support of access to education for all, including North Carolina’s immigrant students.
In the sex education debate, Gov. Easley does not have to stand alone. Fourteen states, including most recently Virginia, have rejected Federal Title V money because they understand that it is tied to biased federal mandates that do nothing to help prepare young people for a successful future.
Many of these governors publicly stated that they decided not to spend precious state dollars on unproven programs. The federal government requires states to match three of the four dollars they receive from Title V with state money.
States that receive Title V must adhere to “8 Points†as defined by the federal government. Not a single point, or mandate, includes providing young people with information on birth control or the prevention of sexually transmitted infections. In fact, in 2007 federal Title V administrators told state Title V recipients that they must ensure that funded programs and curricula “do not promote contraception and/or condom use.â€
Until 1996, North Carolina recognized and understood the need to teach students about the benefits of birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted infections. Most North Carolinians who attended middle school or high school prior to 1996 remember receiving comprehensive sex education.
In 1995, the NC General Assembly passed legislation to do away with comprehensive sex education. In 1996, the federal government created Title V, a $50-million-per-year entitlement program to fund abstinence-only sex education.
Recently, several major studies have demonstrated that abstinence-only programs are ineffective in changing teenagers’ sexual behavior. Most notably, a 10-year federally funded evaluation initiated by Congress proved abstinence-only education makes little difference in the lives of young people.
In today’s world of highly sexualized media and rising rates of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, it makes no sense to invest North Carolina’s public dollars in a sex education program that tells teachers not to “promote contraception and/or condom use.â€
Roughly one-half of our high school students admit to having sex even after receiving “abstinence until marriage only†sex education. Other statistics point to the consequences of this gap.
Every day in North Carolina, 53 teenage girls, 15 to 19 years of age, become pregnant. In 2006, 405 young girls in North Carolina aged 10 to 14 became pregnant. The HIV and sexually transmitted disease rates for African-Americans are approximately 10 times the rates of whites.
As Gov. Easley looks to make his mark on history, he might consider the future health and well-being of North Carolina’s next generation.
Comprehensive sex education helps young people delay sexual activity while also providing them with information they need to make lifelong responsible decisions. Sometimes federal mandates are out of step with what a state really needs.
Title V is out of step with the nationally recognized progress North Carolina has made in creating effective programs that educate our young.
For a governor committed to preparing young people for their future, rejecting Title V and creating funding for comprehensive sex education offers a lasting impression.
Paige Johnson is the director of Public Affairs at Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina