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Take Action! New or Old - Find Out Where Your
Legislator Stands on Sex Ed
It's an easy call or email to make. Simply contact your State Senator
and Rep to let them know you support comprehensive sexual health education
in Minnesota's schools and to ask if they also support comp sex ed in
the schools. So you already know where your legislators stand. That's
okay. They still need to get a call from you to stay on their political
radar screen. But, there are also a lot of new faces at the State Capitol.
If they don't hear from you, they won't know. So, set aside five minutes
to make your phone call or click your email. Visit the "Talk to Lawmakers"
page on the MAP Public Policy Web Page to find out who represents you
and how to contact them.
Press Conference held on Comprehensive Family Life and Sex Education Bill
Last Wednesday Sexuality Education for Life, along with the Minnesota
AIDS Project, held a press conference about the Comprehensive Family Life
and Sex Education Bill. Senator Sheila Kiscaden, of Rochester and Senator
Sandra Pappas of St. Paul, along with Representative Neva Walker of Minneapolis
fielded questions surrounding the bill. Senator Kiscaden, the author of
the Education Now Babies Later (ENABL) bill, shared her concerns about
its effectiveness. ENABL is an abstinence only education initiative that
has been in effect in Minnesota schools since 1996. After reviewing the
effectiveness of ENABL researchers found that it did not prevent sexual
activity until marriage. The youth involved with the ENABL program also
showed higher instances of unprotected sex than Youth who had not gone
through the program. After reviewing the findings, Senator Kiscaden found
that ENABL, a bill she had authored, was not effective and that there
is a need for Comprehensive Sex Education. Representative Neva Walker
also shared her support for Comprehensive Sex Education in MN schools.
She spoke of her experience as a teen mother and now as the mother of
a teenage son and how that has shaped her support of Comprehensive Sex
Education. As a mother Representative Walker is concerned about youth
getting medically accurate information about STI, HIV/AIDS and pregnancy
prevention. Claire Strickland, a 12th grader from South High School, also
spoke at the press conference. Claire was appalled and concerned about
her peer’s lack of accurate information about issues surrounding
sex, HIV/AIDS and pregnancy prevention and while her family communicates
openly and honestly about sex there is still a great need for comprehensive
sex education in the schools. The curriculum would be a requirement for
grades 7 through 12 and it would allow school districts considerable authority
to determine how to fulfill the requirement. The bill aims to ensure that
students in Minnesota receive information that is current and medically
accurate using strategies that science has shown to work in helping young
people to make responsible decisions. The bill has been introduced in
the Senate [SF 0878] and in the House of Representatives [HF 1300 &
1301]. The comprehensive family life and sex education bill has broad,
tri-partisan support in the legislature. As of this date, Senate authors
include Sandy Pappas [DFL-St. Paul], Keith Langseth [DFL-Glyndon], Shelia
Kiscaden [IND-Rochester], David Senjem [R-Rochester], Gary Kubly [DFL-Granite
Falls], Bob Kierlin [R-Winona] and Paul Koering [R-Fort Ripley. The bill
has thirty-five House authors; including Neva Walker [DFL-Mpls], Dan Dorman
[R-Albert Lea], Ron Erhardt [R-Edina], Kathy Tingelstad [R-Andover], and
Tom Huntley [DFL-Huntly].
To see coverage of Thursdays press conference click here [LINK-MPR, others]
This past weekend the MN AIDS Project and Advocates for Youth held a training with local youth members of MN Teens for AIDS Prevention. Six different communities where represented at the training; including Mosaic Youth Center in Brooklyn Park, Annex Teen Clinic in Robbinsdale, Edina High School, Moundsview High School, District 202 in Minneapolis and Neighborhood House in St. Paul. The youth spent the weekend learning about HIV/AIDS, comprehensive sex education, activism, Lobbying and how to educate others about HIV/AIDS. The MN-TAP members will continue to meet on a weekly basis throughout the remainder of the school year to continue working as activists and advocates in their communities. To learn more about advocates for youth click here.
The largest pharmacy chain in the nation, the CVS Corporation, allows its employees to refuse to fill prescriptions based on “deeply held personal beliefs”. This policy allows pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions and emergency contraception (the morning after pill) to customers if it goes against their moral beliefs. As of now there have been no reported cases of pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions in Minnesota but across the river in Madison, WI there has. Currently there are no federal laws concerning “refusal clauses”. However many states are initiating legislation that would allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions on any medication based on “moral grounds”. In Minnesota there is not a movement, currently, towards enacting such legislation but there are no limitations on the books to prevent companies from instituting clauses similar to CVS’s. To read more about the CVS conscientious objector policy click here.
The New York Times published an article on February 13, 2005 about a new form of HIV. The NY Times was reporting on a announcement from city health officials on February 11th that they had detected a new strain of HIV that was resistant to most anti-retroviral drugs and that it progressed much faster to AIDS. Other Health officials called the announcement premature and noted that the resistance to drugs and the rapid progression to AIDS could be due to the infected mans immune system. There have been several cases in the past, where people’s bodies respond differently to medication and the onset of AIDS has developed at a faster pace than the general population of HIV infected persons.
The Bush Administration 2006 proposed budget may require the National Institute of Health (NIH) to discontinue portions of ongoing AIDS vaccine research, in addition other projects may also be cut to accommodate the lack of significant funding increases. The Bush administration’s proposed budget for 2006 calls for an increase of only 0.5% to the overall budget of NIH. In the past NIH has seen their budget double between 1997 and 2003. In order to maintain the level of HIV/AIDS research at the NIH a more significant funding increase is needed. With the possibility of a new strain of HIV, which is resistant to antiretroviral therapy and progresses much quicker to AIDS, the need for thorough AIDS vaccine research is very important. Click here to read the article on CNN’s webpage.
Decline in HIV/AIDS in Uganda Attributed Partially to Increased Condom Use
According to a study done by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, John Hopkins University and several Ugandan organizations there has seen a decrease of HIV/AIDS infection. The rate of infected adults has fallen from 30% in the 1990’s to under 10% today according to the unpublished study. Those who support Uganda’s ABC program, Abstinence, Be faithful, use Condoms, have accredited the decrease in HIV/AIDS infection to the programs success. To read more about HIV/AIDS in Uganda click here.
MAP Advocate is published by the Minnesota AIDS Project every two weeks while the Minnesota Legislature is in session, and monthly during the rest of the year. It is available through the MAP Web site and through email list service. If you wish to order the MAP Advocate, visit our Join the Action Network page, or contact MAP Public Policy by phone or email.
MAP Public Policy
Minnesota AIDS Project
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Minneapolis, MN 55404
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Last Updated:
Friday, March 30, 2007
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