Coalition for Responsible Sex Ed

We are a coalition of educational, religious, health, social service, and advocacy organizations, as well as concerned individuals that promotes lifelong healthy sexuality by advocating for policies on responsible sexuality education and access to confidential health care services.

Read our key values.
General information in PDF format.

Federal Update

Appropriations Bill Signed into Law
For the first time ever, significant federal funding was allocated for an evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention initiative when President Obama signed the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations bill on December 17. A total of $114 million will be administered by the newly funded Office of Adolescent Health. This new initiative would fund teen pregnancy prevention programs that have been rigorously evaluated and proven effective as well as innovative approaches. Programs that address the behavioral risk factors that underlie teen pregnancy will also be available for funding. The appropriations bill also eliminates all existing funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Both the Senate and House had previously approved the spending bills. To read more about this funding, visit www.siecus.org.

Health Care Reform
Funding for states is found in both the House and Senate Health Care Reform bills. But in the Senate, conflicting amendments passed in the final moments in Finance Committee. There are still opportunities to remedy the conflicting amendments as the bill continues to move through the process. To read more visit www.siecus.org.

REAL Act Introduced

The Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act, authored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ), was introduced March 17th, 2009. The REAL Act would establish the first ever grant program for responsible sex ed. Under the bill, sex education programs would be age-appropriate, medically accurate and provide information about both contraception and abstinence. For more information, visit www.siecus.org.

Minnesota Parents Support Responsible Sex Education

Results from a survey of parents from across the state indicates overwhelming support for medically accurate and comprehensive sex education - which includes reproductive health and pregnancy prevention topics - in school. The survey was conducted by the Healthy Youth Development-Prevention Research Center in collaboration with the Center for Adolescent Nursing, University of Minnesota. See KARE-11's news coverage about the report here.