Sex Education

President Obama released his budget (pdf) on Thursday that eliminates funding for controversial abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education. The funding, initiated by a Republican Congress and President Clinton in 1996, has been heavily criticized as ineffective. In 2007, Minnesota opted out of federal abstinence money after the Bush administration added new and more conservative mandates to the [...]

Government health officials testified Monday that rates of sexually transmitted diseases are rising, particularly among urban women, and that a proposed bill to increase funding for testing, treatment and education might stem the steady rise in rates and curb teen pregnancy. But, given the state’s budget woes and Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s ties to the religious right, the bill faces steep hurdles.

Would-be Vice President Sarah Palin, who announced today that her unmarried teenage daughter is pregnant, opposes sex-education programs in schools as a matter of principle.  Washington Independent’s Ari Melber has the story.

Pro-choice activists rallied at the State  Capitol rotunda on Tuesday in support of abortion rights and comprehensive sex education. The rally, part of Pro-Choice Lobby Day, drew the DFL leadership from both legislative bodies, along with activists and other legislators.

A boisterous Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, was joined at the podium by House Speaker [...]

Editor’s note: As we count down the final days of 2007, we look back at some of the most interesting or important stories Minnesota Monitor covered in the past year. Here’s the second in this ongoing series.
While 2007 was a year of big news in reproductive health, it wasn’t a year of much progress.

In [...]

A new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows that sex education delays sexual activities in teenagers. Released Wednesday, the data indicates classes help to convince teens to delay sex until after age fifteen.

Trisha Mueller, M.D., an epidemiologist with the CDC who spearheaded the study, said the study showed the efficacy of [...]

The Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Prevention, & Parenting (MOAPPP), Advocates for Youth, Hennepin County, and Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota (PPMNS) are among a number of groups sponsoring “Let’s Talk Month,” a national campaign to encourage parents to educate their children about sex and reproductive health.

The campaign, which kicks off this week, [...]

The University of Minnesota was rated as the best college in the nation at keeping its students informed about sex, according to a study sponsored by Trojan condoms.

Researchers surveyed schools in 11 categories, including availability of HIV testing, student health center hours of operation, student peer groups and sexual assault programs. The researchers assigned letter [...]

This is part two of a three-part series.  Part one found here.  Part three found here.

‘Every young person deserves to know they have the choice to be abstinent.’

Luis Galdamez, sharply dressed in a black suit and white shirt that seems to reflect the conference’s “Black and White” theme, goes next.

“As a Hispanic living in this [...]

This is part one of a three-part series. Read Part Two and Part Three.

‘There Are a Lot of Fallacies That Need to Be Undressed’

I know the St. Paul Crowne Plaza Riverfront hotel like the back of my hand.  It used to be the base hotel for the Minnesota YMCA Youth in Government program, in [...]