Help Pass the Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act

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The United States doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to sexual and reproductive health. We go back and forth on the Global Gag Rule every presidential term. We have huge numbers of pregnant children and teenagers while we have schools that refuse to teach them how to have responsible sex—or we give our funding for sex education to abstinence-only religious groups. We even have legislators demanding that women get vaginal ultrasounds to have enough “information” before getting an abortion—which is just as good as mandating that women be raped before getting the procedure done. Yeah, none of this is very impressive by any means, and it’s no wonder that we still have many mothers dying every day from being pregnant—many of them still of high school age.

Representative Yvette Clark of New York is hoping to change all of that. (You know, more of that hopey-changey stuff that many of us know and love.) She wants to make the United States a global leader in sexual and reproductive health, starting with the Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act of 2010. This law would basically transform the entire U.S. foreign aid policy as it stands, calling for comprehensive sexual health and reproductive health programs rather than selective ones.

The bill includes a section completely focused on youth, including the promotion of health care, sex education, and full empowerment given from the knowledge they so need about their own bodies. It’s a huge start on making our entire system a comprehensive one rather than the hush-hush, chastity ring-enforcing worthless system that we currently have.

Not that there’s anything wrong with waiting to have sex for those who choose to do so; it’s just that it doesn’t work across the board, and people have a right to know what to do with their bodies. It’s pretty outrageous that we learn how to take care of a baby, cook, solve for x, and say no to drugs while in school but that so many people have no idea how to manage their own sexual health.

By the way, if you’re a man and you’re reading this, it concerns you, too. I’m so tired of men saying that sexual and reproductive health are “women’s issues.” The other day I was phonebanking for an organization when the man I talked to told me that he would let his wife know of my message since it was really a “woman’s issue.” Really? I didn’t know that women could get pregnant without a male contribution—that’s totally incredible! I also didn’t know that men were immune to sexually transmitted diseases. Bottle that stuff up, fellas!

Seriously, if you support the legislation—whatever gender you associate with—please take a few moments today to let your representative know.