Honolulu Advertiser (02.12.09) - Friday, February 13, 2009
Loren Moreno
The Hawaii House Committee on Education on Wednesday passed two sex education bills, one requiring the state to reject any Title V federal funds for abstinence-only sex education. The second bill requires state sex education funds to go to comprehensive programs that stress pregnancy and STD prevention in addition to abstinence. The Department of Education (DOE) supports the two measures, HB 329 and HB 330, respectively, while the Department of Health (DOH) opposes both.
"The bottom line of what these bills are saying is abstinence- only education has been shown to be ineffective and many states have rejected it," said Rep. Marilyn Lee, who introduced HB 329 with support from Women's Legislative Caucus members.
Hawaii does not currently accept federal abstinence-only funds for its public schools, but DOH does channel about $161,000 of Title V funding for the Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii for its abstinence program. "Even if it is abstinence-only, they can get the other messages from other sources," said Marlene Lee, head of DOH's Child and Youth Wellness Section. DOH has disbursed the abstinence funds for the past 10 years, she added.
"The bill [HB 330] is saying that abstinence education is not effective," said Danny Morishige, director of the Try Wait! Program at Catholic Charities Hawaii. "Abstinence education is still very young and there is ongoing research that is showing that there are abstinence programs that are effective."
"I can say from experience, being in the schools and hearing from what kids think they know, it's quite frightening. There's a huge lack of education," said Sonia Blackiston, director of education and training for Planned Parenthood Hawaii. "Even though Hawaii has a lot of teens that aren't sexually active, the ones that are are really engaging in high-risk behavior."090213
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