Teach sex ed right

Teach sex ed right

EDITOR:

I am a student at Youngstown State University and recently hosted two events on campus, one for health care reform, including women’s health care, and another calling for comprehensive sex education in our schools. Students are very interested these topics. We collected 125 signatures on a petition calling for comprehensive, medically-accurate health information for our public schools. A 2008 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that one in four teenage girls has a sexually-transmitted disease. Abstinence-only programs don’t work and too many students in Ohio and across the country have been kept ignorant of the facts. It’s time for a change. Please consider contacting your state representative and tell him/her to support House Bill 316, Act For Our Children’s Future which would not require sex ed but would require that school districts that teach the subject teach medically-accurate information that could help prevent unintended pregnancies and STDs. We all deserve better.

BASIA TANORI

Youngstown