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The REAL Act:

Responsible Education About Life

The REAL Act (S. 972 & H.R. 1653) would ensure that young Americans would be educated and informed with medically accurate information about abstinence, contraception and disease prevention.

These programs will supply young people with the tools to make informed decisions, resist peer pressure, set goals, manage stress, be responsible, understand and accept diversity, build healthy relationships and have access to up-to-date information about how they can protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.

Why now?

Since 1996, more than $1 billion in federal and state funding has been provided to ineffective abstinence-only education programs. In order to receive federal abstinence-only funding, grantees must agree to exclude information about the health benefits of contraception to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases from their educational programs.

Currently, there is no federal appropriation designated for comprehensive sexuality education. Worse yet for our young people, abstinence-only education programs are teaching medically-incorrect information.

The REAL Act is part of the Prevention First Act, a package of preventive health and education measures designed to help reduce unintended pregnancy and, therefore, the need for abortion.

What would the REAL Act do?

The REAL Act would fund programs that:

• Are age-appropriate and medically accurate

• Do not teach or promote religion

• Teach that abstinence is the only certain way to avoid pregnancy or sexual transmission of diseases

• Stress the value of abstinence while not ignoring young people who have had or are having sex

• Provide accurate information about the health benefits and side effects of all contraceptives and barrier methods as a means to prevent pregnancy

• Provide information about the health benefits of condoms and other barrier methods as a means to reduce the risk of STDs, including HIV

• Encourage family communication about sexuality

• Teach skills for making responsible decisions about sex, including how to avoid unwanted verbal, physical, and sexual advances and how not to make unwanted verbal, physical, and sexual advances; and;

• Teach that alcohol and drug use can affect the ability to make responsible decisions.

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