January X, 2010
Dear President Obama and Congressional Leaders:
On behalf of the undersigned local, state, and national organizations committed to the health and well-being of our nation’s young people, we thank you for taking several steps toward properly promoting and funding programs that will improve sexual and reproductive health for young people across the country by passing and signing the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010. We commend you for following through with the elimination of funding for existing abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, funding more comprehensive approaches in Fiscal Year 2010, and placing the new teenage pregnancy prevention initiative under the newly funded Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) within the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).
After more than 25 years and more than $1.5 billion of wasteful spending on ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, we commend you for taking the opportunity to meet the needs of young people by eliminating funding for harmful abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and shifting resources to evidence-based and comprehensive approaches to sex education. By crafting a program that includes information about both abstinence and contraception, you are finally dedicating funding to programs that address the root issues that help teens make responsible decisions and keep them safe and healthy.
We are also grateful that the new teenage pregnancy prevention initiative was funded at the level of $114.5 million. We are pleased that the final bill also places the new prevention initiative under the purview of the newly funded OAH. Directing that the program be a collaborative effort between HHS agencies including, but not limited to, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will ensure that the new initiative will be invested in multiple agencies of HHS. We fully support this inter-departmental approach and look forward to working with all agencies involved to ensure that this program has the public health frame it requires and that young people across the country have access to the information they need to make safe, healthy, and responsible decisions. In addition to the placement of the new teenage pregnancy prevention initiative within OAH, we look forward to the possibilities that the funding of OAH can bring and look forward to continuing to work with you so that the interrelated health needs of adolescents can finally be adequately addressed.
The Administration and Congress acted in the best interest of young people by supporting public health and education policies that are comprehensive, rooted in the best science, and reflect mainstream values. However, we do think that by focusing the funding on teenage pregnancy prevention, and not including the equally important health issues of STIs and HIV, both the Administration and Congress missed an opportunity to provide true, comprehensive sex education that promotes healthy behaviors and relationships for all young people, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. We are pleased with how far we came in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010 and look forward to continuing to work with you in the coming year to create the strongest possible initiative that will meet the needs of all young people and will be sustainable in the long term.
If you would like any additional information, please do not hesitate to be in touch with Jen Heitel Yakush at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS) at (202) 265-2405 or Marcela Howell at Advocates for Youth at (202) 419-3420.
Sincerely,
Advocates for Youth
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS)
[and, I hope, gazillions of other organizations that sign on by 1/8/09]
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