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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2185 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2185

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through 
the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, 
 to award grants on a competitive basis to public and private entities 
to provide qualified sexual risk avoidance education to youth and their 
                                parents.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 12, 2012

 Mr. Graham (for himself and Mr. Thune) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through 
the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, 
 to award grants on a competitive basis to public and private entities 
to provide qualified sexual risk avoidance education to youth and their 
                                parents.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Abstinence Education Reallocation 
Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. SEXUAL RISK AVOIDANCE EDUCATION.

    (a) Grants.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting 
through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 
Administration, may award grants on a competitive basis to public and 
private entities to provide qualified sexual risk avoidance education 
to youth and their parents.
    (b) Qualified Sexual Risk Avoidance Education.--To qualify for 
funding under subsection (a), sexual risk avoidance education shall 
meet each of the following criterion:
            (1) The education shall be age appropriate.
            (2) The education shall be medically accurate.
            (3) The education shall be carried out through an evidence-
        based approach.
            (4) The education shall have as its sole purpose teaching 
        of the skills and benefits of sexual abstinence as the optimal 
        sexual health behavior for youth.
            (5) The education shall include, consistent with paragraphs 
        (1) through (4), teaching of each of the following:
                    (A) The holistic health, economic, and societal 
                benefits that can be gained by refraining from 
                nonmarital sexual activity, through teaching practical 
                skills that promote self-regulation, goal setting, and 
                a focus on the future.
                    (B) The clear advantage of reserving human sexual 
                activity for marriage, as a key contributing factor in 
                the prevention of poverty and the preservation of 
                physical and emotional health, based on social science 
                research.
                    (C) The foundational components of a healthy 
                relationship and related research regarding the 
                individual, economic, and societal advantages of 
                bearing children within the context of a committed 
                marital relationship in order to form healthy marriages 
                and safe and stable families.
                    (D) The skills needed to resist the negative 
                influences of the pervasive sex-saturated culture that 
                presents teenage sexual activity as an expected norm, 
                with few risks or negative consequences.
                    (E) The understanding of how drugs, alcohol, and 
                the irresponsible use of social media can negatively 
                influence healthy sexual decisionmaking and can 
                contribute to aggressive sexual behavior.
                    (F) A focused priority on the superior health 
                benefits of sexual abstinence, ensuring that any 
                information provided on contraception does not 
                exaggerate its effectiveness in preventing sexually 
                transmitted diseases and pregnancies.
    (c) Priority.--In awarding grants under subsection (a), the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services shall give priority to 
applicants proposing programs to provide qualified sexual risk 
avoidance education that--
            (1) will serve youth ages 12 to 19; and
            (2) will promote protective benefits of parent-child 
        communication regarding healthy sexual decisionmaking.
    (d) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) Age appropriate.--The term ``age appropriate'' means 
        appropriate for the general developmental and social maturity 
        of the age group (as opposed to the cognitive ability to 
        understand a topic or the atypical development of a small 
        segment of the targeted population).
            (2) Evidence-based approach.--The term ``evidence-based 
        approach'' means an approach that--
                    (A) has a clear theoretical base that integrates 
                research findings with practical implementation 
                expertise that is relevant to the field;
                    (B) matches the needs and desired outcomes for the 
                intended audience; and
                    (C) if implemented well, will demonstrate improved 
                outcomes for the targeted population.
            (3) Medically accurate.--The term ``medically accurate'' 
        means referenced to peer-reviewed research by medical, 
        educational, scientific, governmental, or public health 
        publications, organizations, or agencies.
            (4) Sexual abstinence.--The term ``sexual abstinence'' 
        means voluntarily refraining from sexual activity.
            (5) Sexual activity.--The term ``sexual activity'' means 
        genital contact or sexual stimulation, including sexual 
        intercourse.
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated to 
        carry out this Act $110,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2012 
        through 2016. Amounts authorized to carry out this Act shall be 
        derived exclusively from amounts in the Prevention and Public 
        Health Fund established by section 4002 of the Patient 
        Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 300u-11).
            (2) Federal administrative costs.--Of the amounts 
        authorized to be appropriated under paragraph (1) for a fiscal 
        year--
                    (A) not more than $1,000,000 are authorized to be 
                used for Federal administrative costs; and
                    (B) of the amounts used by the Secretary for such 
                costs, not less than 40 percent shall be used for 
                training and technical assistance by qualified experts 
                who--
                            (i) have singular experience in providing 
                        programmatic support in abstinence education;
                            (ii) have expertise in theory-based 
                        abstinence education curriculum development and 
                        implementation;
                            (iii) have experience in developing sexual 
                        risk avoidance evaluation instruments; and
                            (iv) can offer technical assistance and 
                        training on a wide range of topics relevant to 
                        the sexual risk avoidance (or abstinence 
                        education) field.
                                 <all>
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