Invincible Youth, Invisible Epidemic

Unsafe Sex Puts Black Youth at Risk

by Khalia Walters, Clara Bell Duvall Reproductive Freedom Intern 

In Philadelphia, there are not many teenagers who are well-educated on reproductive health. Things like pregnancy rates, STD rates or just STD’s period are a non-factor to a great number of Philadelphia teens. I know this because I am a teen living in Philadelphia, and from the things I’ve seen and heard from my peers, people don’t know that sexual intercourse can be really risky.

I came across a website suggested by one of my coworkers here at ACLU that gave the most straightforward yet very informational facts about STD’s. The website is called takecontrolphilly.org and it gives you all facts on every STD. It tells you the symptoms, whether they’re curable or not, and how you can catch them. It also says what you should do when you catch a curable STD and what you’re restricted from doing if you have an STD that isn’t curable. Some STD’s spread simply by the male privates and female privates touching each other, not only by full sexual intercourse. And pregnancy can happen before intercourse, too. But so many teens don’t know that.

At our age, we teens think we’re  invincible and that things like STD’s are  facts broadcast to us to make us refrain  from sexual activity. With some STD’s, you won’t really able to tell if you have it or not. With HIV, most times you won’t even look or feel differently. Other times people get flu-like symptoms which can just be mistaken for the common flu. And so some infected people are running around freely thinking they’re STD-free when they’re actually infecting others.  In 2010, of all the youth in Philadelphia diagnosed with HIV, 84% of them were African-American.  Also, 70% of the adolescents diagnosed with HIV each year are African-American.

So what exactly do we do about these frightening facts? I say that the Philadelphia School District should place more health classes in middle schools and in all high schools. This can be a touchy subject with some parents and to officials this may seem unnecessary, but with the rate of HIV in African-American youth in Philadelphia as high as it is, something big needs to happen. Teens need to know the great risk they’re taking when they go out and “hook up” with someone. Anyone who thinks he’s too cool to use a condom is fooling himself. Using a condom is a way of looking out for yourself and your partner.

When I was in middle school, we had health classes that taught us about some of the STD’s out there and we were told to read these really old health books with scenarios that were so unrealistic that was it hard to believe that something called AIDS could bring so much destruction to one’s life. Running with this, I think that the Philadelphia School District has an obligation to its students. They should establish health classes at every Philadelphia high school with an updated, effective, and relevant curriculum. Teachers should teach about current statistics and make lessons more interesting. Websites like takecontrolphilly.org are far more appealing to the eye than a normal website with blank facts typed all over. Their graphic designs and accurate information intrigues the reader and pulls them in, making them want to learn more about the risk of sex. Sex ed classes should be at least this interesting.

As we raise awareness during Black History Month of issues facing our community, teens in Philadelphia need to know the facts about reproductive health. They need to know that unsafe sex is a risk no one should take. STD’s are lurking around the city affecting the lives of many teens who may not even be aware of the danger. Health classes in Philadelphia high schools and middle schools could really benefit Philadelphia youth, especially African-Americans who are by far at the greatest risk.

Khalia Walters is a high school sophomore at the Mastery Charter School, Lenfest Campus. She is interning at the Clara Bell Duvall Reproductive Freedom Project this semester. 

This post is part of a series honoring Black History Month.

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PA House on Teen Sex: Incarcerate, Not Educate???

Earlier this week, the state House passed legislation, House Bill 2189, to create a new crime called "sexting." Sexting is when someone, often a teenager (although apparently senior citizens and pro athletes are doing it, too), sends photos of him- or herself in various stages of undress or engaged in sexual activity to another person or persons via electronic communication. HB 2189 makes it a misdemeanor for a minor to engage in sexting if the photos involve nudity and were sent for the purpose of sexual stimulation. It's a summary offense if the photo was sent to one other person and the sender had a reason to believe that the recipient wanted to receive the photo, e.g. the teenage couple sharing pics with each other.

Under this bill, the transmission or dissemination of photos of a minor engaged in sex acts, including transmitting a photo of one's self, could still be prosecuted under the felony child pornography statute.

Look, let's face it, teenagers are going to dumb things. They're at an age where they are increasingly aware of their sexuality, and, at the same time, their brains are at a stage of development where they don't yet have the ability to stop irrational behavior 100% of the time.

You show me an adult who didn't do foolish things as a teen, and I'll show you an adult with amnesia.

HB 2189 is simply wrong-headed. Turning our kids into criminals for their clumsy behavior is cruel. Addressing teen misbehavior is a job for parents and educators, not prosecutors.

And the bill is based on the false premise, stoked by some reps and district attorneys, that all sexting by minors is currently a felony, a point that is repeated, ad nauseum, by the media. In fact, if the photos only involve nudity and the production and distribution of the photos is consensual, it's protected expression under the First Amendment.

Fittingly, there is a bill to ensure that teen sexuality is addressed in a constructive fashion. House Bill 1163, the Healthy Youth Act, would set minimum standards on sex education for Pennsylvania's public schools. HB 1163 would guarantee that students receive medically-accurate sex ed. The curricula that would pass muster under this bill would emphasize that abstinence is the only 100% effective of way to stop pregnancy and the transmission of STDs and would teach kids science-based information about contraception.

House Bill 1163 is neatly tucked away in the House Appropriations Committee, and many observers think that's exactly where it's going to stay because the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Senator Jeffrey Piccola, has said that he won't consider the bill.

So to recap, the state House has passed a bill to turn kids into criminals for their clumsy sexual behavior and is simultaneously burying a bill to constructively teach kids about their sexuality, with the Senate Education Committee chairman as an accomplice.

In a word, this is a disgrace.

Andy in Harrisburg

(The poster above comes from a series of hilarious sex ed posters posted on Huffington Post earlier this week.)

Hypocrisy Abounds on the Anniversary of Legal Abortion

Today we celebrate the 37th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. In the U.S. abortion rates continue to decline, but in countries where abortion is illegal, the number of abortions is really, really high. Double, triple, even quadruple that of countries where it’s legal.

Why is that? Because enlightened and developed societies recognize that abortion is part of the continuum of care for women.

It begins with access to health care for every member of society from birth to death. Preventing pregnancy is viewed as a public health concern like preventing tooth decay. Always brush your teeth. Always use a condom.

How is the United States doing overall on women’s health? Not as good as we should be. Overall, few women here die during pregnancy or childbirth -- we rank 20th out of 135 countries. Good not great.

But, among African American women, maternal mortality rates are 3½ times greater. Health care for a black woman living in the U.S. more resembles Uzbekistan or Iran than the United States.

Among young people in the U.S. rates of unintended pregnancy, HIV infection, and STD’s are rising. In the Latino and African American communities, they are skyrocketing.

What’s wrong?

Under Bill Clinton, a group of conservative lawmakers started a $50 million dollar program promoting “abstinence-only until marriage.”

During the Bush Administration, the program became the darling of the far, far right and it experienced explosive growth -- – it grew to over $250 million dollars every year.

Even though abstinence-only until marriage programs have been:

• proven ineffective
• shown to increase unsafe sex practices
• discriminate against LGBT youth
• are insensitive to victims of sexual assault & abuse
• and, withhold vital information about safe sex practice

Money was handed out from the federal government to state governments, local school districts, private non-profits, and anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers -- anyone willing to carry their message: that premarital sex, at any age is harmful physically and harmful emotionally.

So, that definitely leaves out gay sex, at any age, or straight sex unless you’re married. And since studies show that over 90% of Americans who do marry will have sex beforehand – what kind of message are we giving youth? And why are we allowing our government to do this?

We know that a whole host of abstinence promoters from George Bush to Sarah Palin to Dick Cheney have daughters who have not followed the message preached by their parents.

Does anyone believe Jenna Bush was a virgin on her wedding night?

What about Bristol Palin -- now a spokesperson for abstinence? Her message is something like: “It didn’t work for me, but you should try it.”

And a personal favorite – Mary Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney, who gave birth to a daughter with her lesbian partner. Were they abstinent until marriage? Oops, they can’t get married – they’re gay. Her father was part of an administration that not only demonized gay sex, it demonized gay marriage.

I don’t know about you, but hypocrisy is not something I value in our political leaders. But this sort of hypocrisy runs wild in our political discourse. And who does it harm?

The one who thought you couldn’t get pregnant the first time.
The one who thought that pulling out was safe.
The one with HIV.
The one with Chlamydia.
The one who didn’t have enough money to refill her pills.
The one whose boyfriend refused to use a condom.

During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to base policy decisions on science and public health. And in his first budget, just submitted to Congress, we have cause for optimism.

We may, just may, have eliminated all funds for abstinence-only-until marriage and in its place are plans for sex education programs. But just because there are funds available doesn’t mean that school districts will change.

We all know that many young people get their sex education or mis-education from television and their peers.

Don’t get me wrong -- some if it useful. On season 2 of Weeds, Uncle Andy taught me more about banana peels and masturbation than I ever knew.

Seriously, if we want to reduce unintended pregnancies, if we want to reduce STD’s and HIV, if we want to be inclusive of LGBT students, we need to take action.

As voters, as citizens, as people who care, you have that right. The right to make your voice heard. For your opinion to count. To try to make this a better world for yourself and for others.

Please contact your Pennsylvania state representative and let them know you want comprehensive reality-based sex education in every public school. Tell them you support HB 1162 and 1163. To find your state representative click here. If you would like more information about these bills, check out PARSE (Pennsylvanians for Responsible Sex Education). I promise you it won’t be hard. They absolutely will be nice to you on the phone.

As we mark the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we can look around the world or look around our communities to see that reproductive rights and is hopelessly tied up in the politics of the day. But for a woman experiencing an unintended pregnancy, politics is the last thing on her mind. It is time to step back and reexamine the issues broadly. It is time to refocus the conversation on fairness and opportunity so that we all can make meaningful decisions about whether and when to bear children, how we conduct our sex lives, and to hold our government accountable for the information it provides. Our democracy depends on it.

- Carol Petraitis
Carol is the Director of the Clara Bell Duvall Reproductive Freedom Project at the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

Is that the Hallelujah Chorus I hear?

Yes, folks, we finally have a budget. Earlier this month – 101 days after it was supposed to be finished – the legislature passed a budget for the fiscal year we are already three and a half months into.

Aside from many, many agencies, schools, and organizations breathing a sigh of relief, what this also means is that the legislature can now get back to working on other things, including important bills on LGBT discrimination, capital punishment, and sex education.

A few to watch:

• House Bill 300

If you follow Speaking Freely or get email updates from us, you know that we were working hard on this bill – which would ban discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression – before the budget impasse. We’re ramping back up now that the legislature is back on track and we need YOU to help get this bill moving again!

Even if you’ve done it already, please take a moment to let your representatives in Harrisburg know that this is something that’s long past due in Pennsylvania. There’s something for you to do no matter how much spare time you have.

If you only have two minutes:
Email your representative. Please take a minute and a half of your two minutes to add a sentence or two to personalize the email – for example, you might briefly summarize the story of a loved one who this law will affect; mention that as a person of faith, you support treating all Pennsylvanians with dignity and respect; or state that as a business owner, this is important legislation for you as you work to recruit and diverse and competitive workforce.

If you have five minutes:
Give your representative’s office a call and say the same thing. You can find the number by using the ACLU’s Find Your Legislator tool. Making a call often augments your voice with lawmakers – it is louder both literally and figuratively! If you have never done this before, don’t worry. All you need to do is tell the staff member who answers your name and address, the bill number you are calling about (HB 300), that you’d like Representative X to support the bill, and why (the personal notes mentioned above or a fact or two from our talking points).

If you have fifteen minutes:
Think about business owners or religious leaders you know who may be willing to sign on as supporters of this bill. Write a brief email or take a few minutes to speak to them about the importance of this bill and let them know that they can help show the diversity of groups that support anti-discrimination legislation. Have them contact us at aclupa@aclupa.org for more information about how they can help.

If you have half an hour:
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. LTEs educate members of your community and are another way of making your voice heard with decisionmakers. You can see examples here or use our talking points for more ideas.

If you have an hour:
Visit your legislator! This is the most important way to make your voice heard with your lawmaker. Meetings can be held in-district (near your home) or in Harrisburg. Call your legislator’s office to schedule a visit. If you have never done a legislator visit before, contact aclupa@aclupa.org for help.

• Senate Bill 1110

This bill calls for a moratorium on executions while a comprehensive study of capital punishment in Pennsylvania is conducted. The study would include analyses of the death penalty’s impact on victims’ families, the potential for executing an innocent person, and the economic, geographical, and racial disparities present in the current system.

In 2007 the American Bar Association concluded that there is overwhelming evidence that the state’s death penalty system is flawed and that we are at risk of executing an innocent person. Among the problems with the death penalty are:

wrongful conviction – The most common causes of wrongful conviction are eyewitness error, government misconduct by the police and/or prosecution, mishandled evidence or the use of unqualified scientific “experts,” unreliable testimony from jailhouse snitches in exchange for a reduction in their sentences, and false confessions resulting from torture, mental illness, or mental retardation.

racial disparities – 69% of Pennsylvania’s death row inmates are racial or ethnic minorities, the second-highest death row minority rate in the country, and black defendants are more likely to be sentenced to death than white defendants, especially if the victim is white.

costs – Contrary to popular belief, it costs more to execute a prisoner than to house him or her for life. A new study released this week by the Death Penalty Information Center investigates other criminal justice needs that could use the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on capital punishment, including the need for 200 more police officers in Philadelphia.

deterrence – The science is inconclusive at best on the deterrent effect of the death penalty. Meanwhile, a national survey of police chiefs from around the country found that police chiefs do not believe the death penalty significantly reduces the number of homicides.

For more information on the death penalty, go to www.deathpenaltyinfo.org or check out our previous blogs on the subject.

• House Bills 1162 and 1163

After years of declining rates of teen pregnancies and teens contracting sexual transmitted diseases, those numbers are again on the rise. Why? Because the epic failure of abstinence-only-until-marriage education has come home to roost. Studies have shown that students who get abstinence-only sex ed don’t delay sexual activity and are less likely to use contraception than students who get comprehensive, science-based sex education.

The impact on public health is without question. Teen births cost the commonwealth more than $300 million per year.

House Bill 1163 (The Healthy Youth Act) would require all public schools that teach HIV prevention – which is all public schools in the state (although the bar for what qualifies as teaching prevention is low, e.g. “don’t have sex”) – to also teach comprehensive sex ed.

House Bill 1162 (The Notice Home Act) would require all schools that teach abstinence-only sex ed to send a notice home to parents informing them of the school’s sex ed curricula.

To learn more about this issue, visit the Pennsylvanians for Responsible Sex Education website.

Becca and Andy in Harrisburg

Abstinence-Only Education Dealt Another Blow

Finally! When Obama released his budget, cutting funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage (AOUM) education, we were ecstatic but knew that there was a long way to go. Last week, the House voted by an overwhelming majority to eliminate almost $99 million in spending for these failed programs. Yay! It’s about time to try something new—like putting $114 million of new funding into programs that actually educate teens about how to stay safe. Good start.

Opponents claim that giving money to already “well-funded” comprehensive sex ed programs is unnecessary. Perplexingly, it would only decrease the amount of money going to youth education since it doesn’t look like AOUM is coming back anytime soon (fingers crossed!). Abstinence-only supporters bemoan these changes citing “studies” like the 2006 Zogby poll which they claim found that adults approve of AOUM over comprehensive sex ed 2:1. No surprise, as the study was commissioned by the National Abstinence Education Association. Fine. But it was never meant to be a public opinion poll, according to the Guttmacher Institute. More troubling is the way abstinence education was described to respondents. Of course a majority of American adults would support a program which “promotes an age appropriate discussion of contraceptives within the context of promoting abstinence as a healthy choice” (the definition of abstinence programs provided in the survey). Um…isn’t that comprehensive sex ed? Or are we mixing up our labels?

Maybe it’s all so confusing because the abstinence movement is struggling to create a more mainstream image. Jessica Valenti discusses how the “virginity movement” (her label for abstinence proponents) is troubled by their loss of standing due to budget cuts, studies showing their programs are failing, and the new pro-comprehensive-sex-ed administration. By publicly claiming that they are moving away from their “abstinence only and absolutely never mention contraception no matter what” approach they probably hope to garner more support. But, if teaching about STIs involves projecting gruesome images of syphilis infections on a big screen (newsflash: the rate of syphilis among teen girls increased by almost half during the abstinence-loving previous administration) and teaching about contraceptives means claiming that condoms fail more often than they work, we should all be wary.

But enough with depressing old news…in with the new! The House has taken a great step in the right direction towards the health of America’s youth. Next stop, the Senate. And then, hopefully, our schools!

Ruth and Dina in Philadelphia