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THE REAL ACT
By: Christal Walker, Georgia Youth Understanding Pregnancy Prevention
Why do I care?
Every day in Georgia over 60 teens become pregnant. The students blame the parents, the parents blame the teachers, and the teachers blame the school system. The list goes on and on and we always end up blaming, the Government. Our government has the power to change many of the old concepts and laws we have set in place. However the people have forgotten that we make up the government. We are the voters who have the choice to pass or oppose certain laws.
How does this affect me?
Recently in Savannah, Georgia we held a REAL ACT rally on the courthouse steps to let our voters and members of Congress know how much teens in Georgia care about the education we are receiving. We have to get through to ours legislators that there is an issue when I am sitting in my health class and there is a teen parent right next to me. There is an issue when one in every four teenage girls has received a Sexually transmitted disease or infection by the time they graduated from high school. This means that your daughter, sister, even your child babysitter could currently have or previously had a sexually transmitted disease. You should be graduating with a diploma in honors not Chlamydia and Syphilis! This should not be an issue of who to blame but who will fix it.
GEORGIA- Home of the Peaches, the Empire of the South, and not the mention we rank 10th for teen Pregnancy Rates in the nation. Georgia’s teen pregnancy rate is increasing every day and is currently 95 pregnancies for every 1000 women. Georgia also has the seventh highest rate of people living with HIV or AIDS, we rank 10th nationally in teen birth rates, and 2nd in repeat teen pregnancies. It also ranks 6th in Chlamydia, 5th in Gonorrhea, 3rd in Syphilis and 9th in HIV infection. Chatham County currently has an annual pregnancy rate of 698 per year. This rounds out to be about 1-2 pregnancies per day.
What is the REAL ACT?
The REAL ACT stands for (Responsible Education About Life) ACT. It will provide funding for states to implement comprehensive sexual education. It will help more teens become aware of the issue they face when engaging themselves in sexual activity. It is age appropriate, stresses abstinence while still teaching contraception methods, encourages family communication, and talks about healthy relationships.
How can I help?
You can help by going on the website below and signing the online petition in support of the REAL ACT and comprehensive sexual education. You can also help by getting the word out in you community about the issues Georgia faces with sexual health and what others can do to help.
Comments
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I definitely love this article about the REAL act! This is great! Thank you so much for giving a personal voice to why we need this and using Georgia as an example.
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vanessaaishacoleman
| 10/19/09 01:01 PM
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vanessaaishacoleman
| 10/19/09 01:01 PM
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