August 2007 |  From the desk of Kelli Conlin, President
For kids around the country, fall means back to school. Unfortunately for New York students, this will be another year without comprehensive sex education, since the anti-choice Republican-led New York State Senate refused to pass the Healthy Teens Act, which would help schools provide comprehensive sex education, for the fourth straight year. I cringe when I walk down the streets and see posters advertising the TV show “Gossip Girl” with photogenic teens embracing beneath the tagline, “Every parent’s nightmare.” But the escapades at this fictionalized private school are not this parent’s September nightmare; I’m more afraid that kids might be going to be learning about sex at the mercy of shows like this! To rectify that, see our Back to School Survivor Tips for parents, teachers, teens and college students. On a more positive legislative note, I was pleased last week to appear alongside New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and other reproductive health advocates to announce the introduction of the Clinic Access Bill, which will ensure that women are able to access reproductive health care without intimidation. The announcement of this bill coincided with the launch of the extreme “40 Days for Life” campaign, a national anti-choice effort to intimidate and harass women and providers. Hopefully this vital legislation will make such intimidation efforts more difficult, and less prevalent. We have an important month ahead of us—this November election is clearly critical on the national level, but also important on the state level because it presents the opportunity to turn the State Senate into a pro-choice majority. Stay tuned over the next month as we bring you all of New York's pro-choice political updates. For Choice,
Kelli Conlin |
Back to School Survival Tips for All Ages Unlike some unnamed vice presidential candidates who like to pretend that teens don’t have sex, most of us are unwilling to place our faith in “abstinence-only” programs. We’ve put together this list of resources for teens, parents, teachers and even college students, to help keep sex ed on the mind this school year. For Teens: Along with the stress of homework and pop quizzes, the school year might bring questions about sex and reproductive health care. It’s not always easy to talk to doctors about these issues. That’s why we created “Doctors for Teens,” the perfect resource guide of providers and clinics throughout New York City that are specifically geared toward the issues adolescents face. Contact pawatramani@prochoiceny.org to get a copy today. For Parents: As the kids settle back into school they’re also tuning into shows like “Gossip Girl.” Don’t let the likes of Chuck Bass teach your kids about sex. Do it yourself. Check out this list of resources from Advocates for Youth to learn what you need to know, how to talk to your kids about sex, and find cool multimedia tools to help with the process. 
For Teachers: Until New York passes the Healthy Teens Act to get a standard age-appropriate, comprehensive sex ed curriculum in place, it’s up to teachers to navigate the bumpy road of sex ed on their own. Check out SIECUS’s SexEdLibrary, the most comprehensive and trusted library of sex-ed resources in the world, to find lesson plans and statistics for students of all ages. For College Students: Just because you’re out of high school doesn’t mean you’re beyond sex ed. The cultural controversies around comprehensive sex ed is the perfect topic for that next term paper. Specifically, impress your professors with a study of the American Constitution Society’s recently released issue brief from this month on how abstinence-only programs are not only detrimental for students, but arguably unconstitutional.
The Teens are Back!
NARAL Pro-Choice New York’s Teen Outreach Reproductive CHallenge (TORCH) program is back after a short end-of-summer hi  atus. TORCH trains Peer Educators—a diverse group of high school students—to conduct trainings for other teens and for health care professionals about a range of reproductive health issues. Our current group of Peer Educators are now in their second, third, or even fourth year of the TORCH program and were off and running in September conducting trainings for teens, like “Human Sexuality 101,” “Healthy Adolescent Relationships,” and “Comprehensive Sex Ed vs. Abstinence-Only Education.” Our Peer Educators also conduct workshops and even one-on-one trainnigs with healthcare providers, who receive positive suggestions from teens about their interviewing and communication skills. This year, for the second time, our Peer Educators were chosen to appear as standardized in a training video, "The Adolescent Reproductive Health Education Project Curriculum," developed by Physicians for a Reproductive Choice (PRCH), which will be made available to doctors nationwide. TORCH Peer Educators will also travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico to present a workshop called "What's Up Doc?: An Action Plan to Reduce Communication Barriers Between Adolescents and Healthcare Providers" at the Healthy Teen Network national conference at the end of of October. It’s going to be a great year and we’re so excited to have the TORCH kids back!
Supporting New York City Council’s Clinic Access Bill  On September 24, New York City Council announced the introduction of a bill that will protect women’s access to abortion facilities in the city. The Clinic Access Bill is an attempt to end anti-choice protestors’ intimidation campaigns against area reproductive health clinics. Announcement of the Clinic Access bill coincided with the launch of the “40 Days for Life” campaign, an effort to harass women, intimidate doctors, and misinform voters across the country—including in seven cities in New York. NARAL Pro-Choice New York President Kelli Conlin was on hand at a press conference announcing the bill, along with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who introduced it. Kelli spoke about the dangerous psychological effect that clinic protests have on women who have made the decision to terminate their pregnancy. Read Kelli’s full comments here. | A Few Choice Words Staff | Tara Sweeney, Writer
Mary Alice Carr, Editor |
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