ST. PAUL, Minn. - Some health education advocates are dismayed that Minnesota passed up more than $850,000 in federal funds for comprehensive sex education - money that was available without requiring matching state dollars. It came about due to an executive order signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty this week directing state agencies not to apply for the grants, which are linked to the Affordable Care Act. He said such programs are "an intrusion by the federal government into personal health care matters." However, the governor does support a federal grant promoting abstinence-only education that requires a 75-percent state match.

Brigid Riley, executive director of the Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention and Parenting (MOAPPP), disagrees with the governor's position.

"It seems to me, because he said yes to accepting 'abstinence-only until marriage' funding, that this is much more about politics than it is about pregnancy prevention. It seems really unfortunate that kids are getting stuck in the middle of a whole bunch of political posturing."

Riley says she can't understand why the governor would turn down funding for effective education programming. She points to more than 30 years of research that demonstrates teens taught about all ways of preventing pregnancy and disease - not just abstinence - are more likely to wait longer before having sex. They also have fewer partners and use condoms and contraception more effectively.

Half of Minnesota teens become sexually active before high school graduation, Riley notes. She warns that limiting sex education to abstinence-only programs will carry serious consequences for public health.

"The pregnancy rates have come down quite a bit over the last couple of decades. But we've seen a really big jump in the HIV infections among young people, as well as the rates of chlamydia and other sexually transmitted infections. This is happening not just here in the Twin Cities, but all over the state."

Shawna Assendorf, youth development coordinator for Watonwan County, has been teaching sex education for the past five years in southern Minnesota and has seen first-hand the limitations of funding restrictions. She started out with an abstinence-only program using peer educators - older teens who help teach junior high students.

"The peer educators said - from the very first time, when we were still doing the abstinence-only education - 'You need to teach about safe sex in the schools.' They recommended it right away. But at that point it was not an option, because we were running under the Enable grant."

Assendorf is currently funded under a grant that allows her to do more comprehensive sex education. She says she doesn't know yet how the governor's decision will affect the future funding for her position, but feels her current approach works, where she stresses the importance of abstinence first, but also teaches safe sex options.

"I've never seen anybody make poor decisions with more education. I think the more education we can give our teens, the better decisions they'll make."



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LANSING, Mich. -- The voices of expectant and parenting youths are being amplified by the first-ever Michigan Young Parent Advisory Council.

Diamond Weakley is among the 13 teens on the council, which is based in Saginaw. She said the group is reducing the stigma and isolation she's experienced as a young parent.

"A lot of families don't support youths having children before graduating. So it makes us feel better about becoming young parents and keeping our kids instead of listening to everybody about how hard parenting may be," Weakley said.

Council Facilitator Robert Clark, a case manager at Saginaw Intermediate School District, said one of their first projects was to raise awareness about the lack of spaces where parents can change a baby's diaper in women's and men's public restrooms.

"So their next objective is to let these companies know why it's important to have a baby changing station in their restaurant or facility," Clark said.

The program is supported by the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health through funding from the National Institute for Reproductive Health. Council members are compensated for their time and efforts, including child care during meetings.

Clark said it's important to support and empower young parents as they work toward their goals, and to ensure they feel respected.

"And let them know it's OK to ask for help and they are heard when they do need anything," he said. "Because they are young parents, they feel like a lot of older adults talk down at them instead of talking with them on their level."

Teen mothers and fathers are at higher risk of dropping out of school and living in poverty, and have higher incidences of repeat births. Weakley agreed being a young parent is hard, but said her daughter is worth it.

"When I look at her and I see her smile, it just makes me want to live better," Weakley said. "Honestly, without my daughter, I don't think I would have graduated high school. I try to do everything that I want to see her do in her future so that she can say, 'Well, my mom did it, so I can do it.'"

Research shows when young parents are supported, they are better able to finish high school, pursue higher-level education and find employment.


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WHITESBURG, Ky. — Access to sex education is on the decline in rural areas, but one eastern Kentucky native aims to fill the knowledge gap with a traveling free sex education workshop called Sexy Sex Ed.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 2006, 71% of rural women were taught about birth control as an option to prevent pregnancy. That number shrunk to 48% by 2013. Tanya Turner, creator of the Sexy Sex Ed workshop said growing up in Bell County, she didn't receive any kind of instruction on sex or her own anatomy.

"I hope I'm not the only person teaching progressive, body-positive sex education in rural Appalachia, but all the stats show sex education in rural places is in on a huge decline,” Turner said.

What started out as a small project nearly a decade ago has grown into a year-round traveling workshop that has reached hundreds of youths across five Appalachian states. Recent grant funding will allow Turner to expand her traveling workshop series.

Turner said her workshops weave in elements of theater, visual art, and writing to explore safety, anatomy, and consent.

"There are a lot of myths that I have to do a lot of myth busting, around virginity and birth control, consent - a lot of consent issues I think come up,” she said.

She said many teens are desperate for information, and pointed out many feel they can't ask their parents or other trusted adults questions about sexuality.

"'Cause they're certainly not getting it in their public school systems and in their homes, and what they are having access to in large part is very fear-based, very shame-based and not helpful, and honestly pretty traumatizing - certainly can be, especially for queer folks and people who are already marginalized,” Turner said.

Research has shown that when sex education includes information about contraception, teens are less likely to become pregnant compared to those who receive abstinence-only or no sex education. According to federal data, Kentucky ranks among the top five states in the country for teens births.


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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennesseans can now get a clearer picture of teen pregnancies in the state.

The State Comptroller's office has released an interactive map that illustrates which counties have high teen birthrates.

John Dunn, a spokesman for the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, explains the map shows the percentages of teen pregnancies per 1,000 girls ages 15 to 17.

"What our map shows is that there are 37 Tennessee counties, which is more than one-third of the counties in the state of Tennessee, that have a teen pregnancy rate which exceeds 19.5, and that means that those counties have to teach a Family Life Education Program in their high schools," he explains.

In Tennessee, counties with elevated teen pregnancy rates are required by law to offer Family Life Education in public schools.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, since 1991, Tennessee's overall pregnancy rate has dropped by at least 45 percent.

A recent report by the Offices of Research and Education Accountability said Tennessee school districts lack guidance on what they should be teaching young people about preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

State law says any sex education course must include presentations that encourage abstinence.

Dunn says the map is one way lawmakers can identify the steps being taken in their districts.

"The primary reason we put this information together is to provide lawmakers with information about their districts, so that they know whether or not education requirements like the Family Life Education program are being taught in their schools," he states.

According to the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, the number of teen pregnancies among 15-to-17-year-olds is on the decrease. Last year, pregnancies in that age group totaled more than 1,900, but five years ago, there were more than 3,000.




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