A Campaign from Planned Parenthood Action Illinois

MCCC is one of 40 supporting organizations who have signed on with Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health (ICAH) and Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area (PP /CA) in their Responsible Sex Education Campaign. The following information was sent out from Planned Parenthood in a formal campaign kick-off.

When you think about the sex education you received in school, what do you remember? Did you get all the facts, or were you told to "just say no"? Did you learn relationship skills, or did you get misinformation about what boys or girls "really want"?

Chances are, there are as many answers to those questions as there are Planned Parenthood Advocates in Illinois.

This inconsistency is one of the reasons Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area, the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, and more than 40 supporting organizations have launched the Illinois Campaign for Responsible Sex Education.

The goal of the Illinois Campaign for Responsible Sex Education is to create a new landscape for sex education. We believe parents and teachers should decide what sex education programs are best for their communities, not the government or politicians. Sadly, recent research shows that although parents and teachers want a comprehensive approach to sex education, our youth are often forced to receive an abstinence-only message due to district/school policy or available curriculum.

Let's make sure our elected officials in Springfield know that the majority of Illinoisans strongly support comprehensive sex education, and reject abstinence-only programs that do not include information on prevention of pregnancy and protection from diseases including HIV and STDs.

We live in a time when 50% of new HIV infections in Illinois occur in people under the age of 25; 40% of Illinois' new Chlamydia and gonorrhea cases are among youth age 10 to 19; and nearly 18,000 births occur each year to girls aged 19 and younger (2003). We can't afford the misinformation and "just say no" messages that come with federally-funded abstinence-only programs. We need responsible sex education.

For more information about the campaign, visit www.responsiblesexed.org.