This is absolutely false and horrible – Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall made a statement last week that disabled children are a punishment sent by God to women who have had an abortion in the past.

It blows my mind that anyone – and much less a member of the Commonwealth’s General Assembly – could say something so absolutely terrible. He said this during a press conference to oppose funding for Planned Parenthood.

No matter what you think of Planned Parenthood (97% of their services, by the way, are focused on prevention care such as Pap tests, breast cancer screenings, and contraceptive services), it disgusts me to think that Marshall would get up in front of a group of Christians and claim: “The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children…In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There's a special punishment Christians would suggest.”

This year, members of the General Assembly have really climbed up onto their morality high horses are unfairly targeting Planned Parenthood. But this statement just crosses the line. If you'd like to help support the amazing work of Planned Parenthood VA, click here to see a list of bills they’re working on.

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Florida—the state best known for sunny beaches and spring break—is becoming known for its horrible abstinence-only policies about sex education. As information comes to light about all the sexual health misinformation being taught in Florida’s classrooms (and as we are reminded that the volume of harmful abstinence-only money funneling into the state is second only to the amount pouring into Texas), it’s heartening that there is a coalition standing up for Florida’s youth.  

It's a good time for this...the sexual health situation in Florida is particularly bad right now. The state currently ranks sixth highest in unintended pregnancies and second highest in HIV/AIDS rate in the nation. Beyond that, I’ve heard from advocates on the ground in Florida that young people, while lacking factual sexual health information, have been subjected to sexual health myths like “drinking a capful of bleach will prevent against the spread of HIV/AIDS” (heard from a 14 year old boy in Miami), or “sitting in pans of bleach cures genital herpes” (info from teen girls in Jacksonville). Other lies being spread as truths on the bus or around town: smoking pot or drinking mountain dew will prevent against getting a female pregnant, and, astonishingly, if you put a little bit of earwax in a woman’s vagina, you could tell if she had an STI. Given all this, plus the $13 million for failed abstinence-only programs in the state last year alone, it’s no surprise that Florida gets consistent F’s on its report card.

The Healthy Teens Campaign in Florida is fighting back against all the rampant misinformation by trying to get better sex ed in schools. The Healthy Teens Act would require Florida public schools that already teach information about sexually transmitted infections, family planning, and pregnancy to provide medically-accurate and comprehensive sex education - including facts about abstinence and methods of preventing unintended pregnancy and the spread of diseases.

If you live in Florida, go here to send a message to your state legislator urging their support for the Healthy Teens Act. You can also forward the alert onto friends-- the Florida legislative session is a short 60 days, so legislators need to hear from as many people as possible now. Fight the earwax myth and all the failed funds...Support the Healthy Teens Act today!