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Statement of Rev. Carlton W. Veazey, President and CEO, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

REAL Re-Introduced: Comprehensive Sex Education Is the Only Responsible Choice for the Nation’s Youth

March 17, 2009

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice applauds our congressional allies for reintroducing legislation to encourage responsible sexual behavior among our nation’s youth. As people of faith, we believe it is a moral imperative to provide children and teens with all the information they need to make responsible and informed decisions about their health.

The REAL Act [Responsible Education About Life Act], introduced today by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA), would fund programs that provide medically accurate, age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education in the nation’s schools. These “abstinence-plus” programs would include information on abstinence and on contraception.

There is no federal funding now for such programs, although the federal government has spent more than $1.5 billion on abstinence-only programs that have been shown to be ineffective and dangerous for failing to teach young people how to protect themselves from disease and unintended pregnancy. While the President and Congress have yet to eliminate funding for these programs, the reintroduction of the REAL Act is a critical step in the right direction.

RCRC's People of Faith for REAL campaign is bringing together faith communities to show support for comprehensive sexuality education because it is effective in helping teens stay healthy.

Religious support for comprehensive, medically accurate sexuality education is broad and long-standing. Those that support it include the United Methodist Church, Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, and Reform and Conservative Judaism. For example, the Presbyterian Church (USA) supports age and developmentally appropriate sexuality education in all grades “as a part of human growth and development curriculum for youth.”

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is the national coalition of religious and religiously affiliated organizations from 15 major denominations.