200 From Across State Rally with Governor to Support Comprehensive Sex Education and Family Planning Funding
Olympia, WA - Pro-choice activists gathered in Olympia today to urge their legislators to support reproductive health care in the current legislative session. Despite inclement weather, a crowd of over 200 spent the day at the capitol, meeting with legislators and gathering in the Capitol Rotunda where they heard an energizing speech from Governor Gregoire. Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36), prime sponsor of SB 6305, was among the pro-choice legislators who also addressed the crowd. Pro-choice activists lobbied their legislators in support of SB 6305 and HB 2698, which would eliminate the requirement that Washington State apply for federal Title V funding, which can only be used for dangerous abstinence-only until marriage programs. “These bills will help ensure that the 2007 Healthy Youth Act is not undermined by federal restrictions that promote inaccurate and ineffective abstinence-only programs,” said Karen Cooper, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington. The Healthy Youth Act, which goes into effect later this year, is quality assurance for sex education in public schools. The bill requires that school districts that choose to teach sex education provide medically accurate and comprehensive information. Title V programs are inconsistent with the intent of the Healthy Youth Act. Pro-choice constituents also lobbied for funding to stop a family planning emergency in Washington State. While the governor’s budget proposal allocates $5 million for family planning, an additional $3 million is needed to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and for cancer and STD screening. “Family planning is more than birth control,” Cooper added. “For many individuals, family planning clinics are their only source of health care and the only place where they can go to get health referrals, education, cancer screenings, and disease testing in addition to contraception and pregnancy testing.” NARAL Pro-Choice Washington is the leading grassroots pro-choice advocacy organization in Washington State. NARAL Pro-Choice Washington’s mission is to protect the full range of reproductive health options, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. NARAL Pro-Choice Washington is the state affiliate of NARAL Pro-Choice America. ###
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