Sex Education
Planned Parenthood is working with the federal and state governments to ensure access to sex education programs that give young people the reliable, accurate information they need to make responsible decisions and stay healthy.
Did You Know?
- The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate among the world’s developed nations.
- According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than three million teen girls have a sexually transmitted infection. That's at least one in four.
- Half of sexually active young people in the U.S. will contract a sexually transmitted infection by age 25.
- Approximately 750,000 teenagers in the United States will become pregnant this year.
The new health care reform bill authorized $75 million in mandatory funding for teen pregnancy prevention. Most of this will go to states to support evidence-based, medically accurate, culturally appropriate sex education programs that address both abstinence and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. This is on top of the $114.4 million for evidence-based, teen pregnancy prevention that President Obama and Congress are providing to community organizations and local governments this year.
Unfortunately, the health care reform bill also included a renewal of $50 million per year funding of Title V abstinence-only education for states until 2014. Planned Parenthood is continuing our work with our supporters, youth activists, and policymakers to put an end to this ineffective program.
Learn More About Abstinence-Only Programs
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