Schools Moving to Comprehensive Sex Ed Two articles today detail pending changes for high school sex education and reproductive health care for students in Washington and Minnesota.

Washington's Healthy Youth Act will take effect in the Fall in time for the start of the school year. 

The Healthy Youth Act was modeled after the research of Douglas Kirby, an American research scientist who studied and evaluated sex-education curricula from around the world. Kirby's research was sponsored by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy in an effort to address alarming teen-sex statistics.

Based on more than 115 program evaluations from around the world, Kirby's research found that curricula focusing on both abstinence and contraception showed the most positive correlations in young adults. Two-thirds of the time, teens exposed to this comprehensive approach showed more willingness to delay sex and use contraception when they were sexually active.

Abstinence-only programs showed no improvements. Neither the frequency of sex nor the number of partners went down. And those who were already sexually active showed no strong evidence of returning to abstinence.

A school district in suburban Minnesota has given the go-ahead to allow a clinic offering contraception and STD testing to be located on its high school's campus.  

Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice Wants Gag Rule Ended Marjorie Singer, Director of Communications for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, writes a good piece on AlterNet explaining the organization's demand for the end of the Global Gag Rule in PEPFAR, along with other amendments:

Simply put, we want PEPFAR to be reauthorized and we welcome the increased funds -- but we want language restricting the participation of family planning organizations to be removed.

This language requires that organizations must comply with the global gag rule -- the requirement that foreign organizations receiving U.S. funding must not provide abortion counseling or services or conduct advocacy on abortion policy. We believe that an ethical policy will support the best and most flexible approaches possible to contain the spread of HIV. Experience shows that involving family planning organizations will ensure the greatest level of access to information and services for women and girls.

We also are concerned by an onerous reporting provision in the bill that would require Congress to be informed when countries with generalized epidemics fall below 50 percent of funds spent on abstinence and fidelity programs. Instead of promoting programs that allow for flexibility and are tailored to the needs of individual communities, the new reporting policy will restrict delivery of comprehensive and integrated information.

Massachusetts Leads the Nation in Twins and Triplets The Boston Globe reports that "in a collision of science and demographics, Massachusetts has emerged as the nation's most prolific producer of twins, triplets, and other multiple births."

The combination of an unusually large number of pregnancies in older women, who are more likely to have multiples, and a heavy reliance on readily available infertility treatments, which also increase the odds, has propelled Massachusetts to the top: The state has a twin birth rate of 4.5 for every 100 live births, compared with a national rate of 3.2, according to the most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Breast Cancer Becoming a Marketing Tool You've likely heard of "greenwashing" -- making a company look more environmentally friendly than it really is as a PR ploy -- but Anne Landman warns of "pinkwashing" in an article published today at AlterNet.

Since 2002, the group Breast Cancer Action has promoted its "Think Before You Pink" campaign. It's fighting "pinkwashing," which is when corporations try to boost sales by associating their products with the fight against breast cancer. Pinkwashing is a form of slacktivism -- a campaign that makes people feel like they're helping solve a problem, while they're actually doing more to boost corporate profits. Pinkwashing has been around for a while, but is now reaching almost unbelievable levels.