Not In My State!

That's what ACLU affiliates in 18 states are saying today about abstinence-only-until-marriage programming. Affiliates in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Wyoming are all participating in a coordinated action to get curricula that spread misinformation and endanger teens out of local schools and after-school programs. For a sample letter sent to local school officials click here.

In conjunction with the Not In My State action, the Take Issue, Take Charge Web site will begin featuring local activists who have made a difference in their community by fighting to keep biased, inaccurate, and ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programming out of their local communities. Sue Briss is a parent in DeKalb County, GA, who earlier this year was part of the fight to get the program Choosing the Best out of her daughter's local middle school. You can read more about Sue’s story here. Renee Walker led the charge against CryBabies in Concord, CA, after discovering the sex ed program she had given permission for her seventh grade son to attend was nothing more than a vehicle for a political agenda. For more about Renee's story click here. Both women are evidence that one person can be very successful in bringing about tremendous change on this issue.

Finally, the Director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, Louise Melling, has an op-ed posted on our Web site today about the dangers of abstinence-only-until-marriage programming. Overall, the ACLU Not In My State action should serve as a much-needed reminder that we all need to take a proactive role when it comes to making sure that teens are being taught medically accurate, age-appropriate, unbiased information about the benefits of abstinence and proper contraceptive use. The stakes are too high for any of us to turn our backs on this issue. Failing to provide honest and accurate information about sexual health can have devastating lifelong consequences.