A teenage pregnancy rate in Alaska is higher than the national average. We also have the most chlamydial infections per capita among teens ages 15-19 in the nation. Our state’s child sexual abuse rate is six times higher than the national average.
Alaska bears these wounds, yet rather than bandaging them we inflict more damage upon our state by misspending resources on problem-inducing legislative bills. Instead of donning our injuries, the Alaskan Legislature must help increase access to medically-accurate sexual health information to assist Alaska’s recovery.
This past year, there have been four attempts to limit youth access to sexual health information — SB 89, SB 191, HB 352 and HB 156. Last week, only hours after SB 89 had died in committee and days before the end of session, the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Mike Dunleavy, R-Wasilla, tacked a new amendment onto HB 156 prohibiting community volunteers that are not certified teachers from presenting sexual health topics in Alaskan schools. Not only do these bills unfairly target Planned Parenthood, a trusted educational partner, but they disregard the effective sexual health education that Planned Parenthood presents.
These bills are war declarations against Planned Parenthood, and Alaska’s youth are not willing to become its casualties. Sen. Dunleavy has admitted: “We don’t want to restrict … (sex-ed), we want to restrict whom!” However, because Alaska does not mandate its teachers to learn sexual health topics, few school staff are qualified to provide accurate information, and given our fiscal crisis, Alaska does not have the budget to train or hire experienced staff. By banning the “who”, we also ban the “what.”
Testifiers in support of these bills claim that Planned Parenthood “promotes sexual promiscuity” and “teaches abortion” to their students, a legitimate concern — if it were true. Planned Parenthood’s educational presence is not about abortion, it is about providing the necessary information for healthy decision making to teens. Planned Parenthood never teaches abortion in school, and lessons can be reviewed and edited by the inviting school teacher.
Planned Parenthood constructs an inclusive, safe environment, teaches veritable science-based information and is proven to be effective. In a Journal of School Health study, a school with Planned Parenthood’s program was found to have 15 percent fewer girls and 16 percent fewer boys who had sex than schools without the program. In March, 30 teens flooded a hearing to show their support for Planned Parenthood’s sexual health lessons; their positive effect cannot be ignored.
As a teenager, it is evident how desperately youth need sexual health information. Growing up, I received little information about the subject, and it was not until learning from Planned Parenthood’s peer education program, Teen Council, that I was finally comfortable making decisions regarding my health. However, most teens do not have this access.
When the New York Times published an article disproving the misconception that STDs cannot be received through oral sex, and a friend of mine tentatively asked me what an STD is, I was reminded of this reality. I wondered: “How do we lower STD rates if we don’t even know what STDs are?” Every day, teens are hurled to and fro in an incessant storm engendered by the media’s paradoxical views on sexuality. Hence, it is easy to believe misconceptions like: “STDs are only contracted through sexual intercourse.”
Though we cannot end the tempest, by increasing access to accurate sexual health information we can provide the tools teens need to escape it. In a Center for Disease Control study, over 60 percent of comprehensive sexual health education programs reduced unprotected sex and 40 percent of programs even delayed the initiation of sex. Alaskan schools rely on outside volunteers like Planned Parenthood and other qualified medical providers to provide this comprehensive sexual health education, and our schools are the optimal outlet for this education. Sen. Dunleavy’s bills obstruct necessary advancement.
Alaska’s youth do not want to waste energy fighting against legislative attempts to disrupt progress; we want to be fighting for attempts to promote progress. Instead of producing extraneous bills, let us employ our efforts in designing bills that increase access to vital information. Planned Parenthood is our ally in a struggle for comprehensive, medically accurate sexual health education access.
But will the State of Alaska stand with us?
• Tasha Elizarde is a junior at Juneau-Douglas High School and a member of Teen Council.
