I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4475 

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants 

to support the access of marginalized youth to sexual health services, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2016 

Ms. ADAMS (for herself, Mr. TAKAI, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, 

Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. NORTON, Ms. MOORE, Ms. LEE, Mr. CONYERS, 

Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New 

Mexico, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Ms. EDWARDS, 

Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. 

PLASKETT, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California, Ms. JUDY

CHU of California, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. 

POCAN, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. VAN

HOLLEN, and Mr. HONDA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to award grants to support the access of marginalized 

youth to sexual health services, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Youth Access to Sexual 

5 Health Services Act of 2016’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF GRANTS TO SUPPORT THE AC2 CESS OF MARGINALIZED YOUTH TO SEXUAL 

3 HEALTH SERVICES. 

4 (a) GRANTS.—The Secretary may award grants on 

5 a competitive basis to eligible entities to support the access 

6 of marginalized youth to sexual health services. 

7 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that is award8 ed a grant under subsection (a) may use the funds to— 

9 (1) provide medically accurate and age appro10 priate sexual health information to marginalized 

11 youth, including information on how to access sexual 

12 health services; 

13 (2) promote effective communication regarding 

14 sexual health among marginalized youth; 

15 (3) promote and support better health, edu16 cation, and economic opportunities for school-age 

17 parents; and 

18 (4) train individuals who work with marginal19 ized youth to promote— 

20 (A) the prevention of unintended preg21 nancy; 

22 (B) the prevention of sexually transmitted 

23 infections; 

24 (C) healthy relationships; and 

25 (D) the development of safe and supportive 

26 environments. 


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1 (c) APPLICATION.—To be awarded a grant under 

2 subsection (a), an eligible entity shall submit an applica3 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 

4 containing such information as the Secretary may require. 

5 (d) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under subsection 

6 (a), the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities— 

7 (1) with a history of supporting the access of 

8 marginalized youth to sexuality education or sexual 

9 health services; and 

10 (2) that plan to serve marginalized youth that 

11 are not served by Federal teen pregnancy prevention 

12 programs. 

13 (e) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary may not award 

14 a grant under subsection (a) to an eligible entity unless— 

15 (1) such eligible entity has formed a partner16 ship with a community organization; and 

17 (2) such eligible entity agrees— 

18 (A) to employ a scientifically effective 

19 strategy; 

20 (B) that all information provided to 

21 marginalized youth will be— 

22 (i) age-appropriate; 

23 (ii) medically accurate; 

24 (iii) scientifically based; and 


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1 (iv) provided in the language and cul2 tural context that is most appropriate for 

3 the individuals served by the eligible entity; 

4 and 

5 (C) that for each year the eligible entity 

6 receives grant funds under subsection (a), the 

7 eligible entity shall submit to the Secretary an 

8 annual report that includes— 

9 (i) the use of grant funds by the eligi10 ble entity; 

11 (ii) how the use of grant funds has in12 creased the access of marginalized youth to 

13 sexual health services; and 

14 (iii) such other information as the 

15 Secretary may require. 

16 (f) PUBLICATION AND EVALUATIONS.— 

17 (1) EVALUATIONS.—Not less than once every 2 

18 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

19 Secretary shall evaluate the effectiveness of which20 ever of the following is greater: 

21 (A) Eight grants awarded under subsection 

22 (a). 

23 (B) Ten percent of the grants awarded 

24 under subsection (a). 


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1 (2) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall make 

2 available to the public— 

3 (A) the evaluations required under para4 graph (1); and 

5 (B) the reports required under subsection 

6 (e)(2)(C). 

7 (g) LIMITATIONS.—No funds made available to an el8 igible entity under this section may be used by such entity 

9 to provide access to sexual health services that— 

10 (1) withhold sexual health-promoting or life-sav11 ing information; 

12 (2) are medically inaccurate or have been sci13 entifically shown to be ineffective; 

14 (3) promote gender stereotypes; 

15 (4) are insensitive or unresponsive to the needs 

16 of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or ques17 tioning youth, sexually active youth, or school-age 

18 parents; 

19 (5) are insensitive or unresponsive to the needs 

20 of survivors of sexual abuse or assault; or 

21 (6) are inconsistent with the ethical imperatives 

22 of medicine and public health. 

23 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

24 (1) COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION.—The term 

25 ‘‘community organization’’ includes a State or local 


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1 health or education agency, public school, youth-fo2 cused organization that is faith-based and commu3 nity-based, juvenile justice entity, or other organiza4 tion that provides confidential and appropriate sexu5 ality education or sexual health services to marginal6 ized youth. 

7 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti8 ty’’ includes a State or local health or education 

9 agency, public school, nonprofit organization, hos10 pital, or an Indian tribe or tribal organization (as 

11 such terms are defined in section 4 of the Indian 

12 Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 

13 (25 U.S.C. 450b)). 

14 (3) MARGINALIZED YOUTH.—The term ‘‘mar15 ginalized youth’’ means a person under the age of 

16 26 that is disadvantaged by underlying structural 

17 barriers and social inequity. 

18 (4) MEDICALLY ACCURATE.—The term ‘‘medi19 cally accurate’’, with respect to information, means 

20 information that is supported by research and recog21 nized as accurate and objective by leading medical, 

22 psychological, psychiatric, or public health organiza23 tions and agencies. 


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1 (5) SCIENTIFICALLY EFFECTIVE STRATEGY.— 

2 The term ‘‘scientifically effective strategy’’ means a 

3 strategy that— 

4 (A) is widely recognized by leading medical 

5 and public health agencies as effective in pro6 moting sexual health awareness and healthy be7 havior; and 

8 (B) either— 

9 (i) has been demonstrated to be effec10 tive on the basis of rigorous scientific re11 search; or 

12 (ii) incorporates characteristics of ef13 fective programs. 

14 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

15 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

16 (7) SEXUAL HEALTH SERVICES.—The term 

17 ‘‘sexual health services’’ includes— 

18 (A) sexual health education; 

19 (B) contraception; 

20 (C) emergency contraception; 

21 (D) condoms and other barrier methods to 

22 prevent pregnancy or sexually transmitted in23 fections; 

24 (E) routine gynecological care, including 

25 HPV vaccines and cancer screenings; 


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1 (F) pre-exposure prophylaxis or post-expo2 sure prophylaxis; 

3 (G) mental health services; 

4 (H) sexual assault survivor services; and 

5 (I) other preventative treatment or care. 

6 (i) APPROPRIATION.— 

7 (1) GRANTS.—Of the amounts appropriated for 

8 fiscal year 2017 under section 510(d) of the Social 

9 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 710(d)), the unobligated 

10 balance of such amounts shall be made available to 

11 carry out this section for such fiscal year. For pur12 poses of the previous sentence, the unobligated bal13 ance of such amounts shall be determined by the Di14 rector of the Office of Management and Budget, in 

15 consultation with the Secretary. 

16 (2) LIMITATION.—Of the amount made avail17 able under paragraph (1) for fiscal year 2017, the 

18 Secretary may reserve not more than 10 percent to 

19 conduct evaluations under subsection (f) for such 

20 year. 

Æ 


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