II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 368

To provide assistance to reduce teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other 

sexually transmitted diseases and to support healthy adolescent development. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2005

Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, and Mrs. MURRAY) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL

To provide assistance to reduce teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, 

and other sexually transmitted diseases and to support 

healthy adolescent development.

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 ‘‘Responsible Education 

5 About Life Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) The American Medical Association 

9 (‘‘AMA’’), the American Nurses Association 
2

•S 368 IS 

1 (‘‘ANA’’), the American Academy of Pediatrics 

2 (‘‘AAP’’), the American College of Obstetricians and 

3 Gynecologists (‘‘ACOG’’), the American Public 

4 Health Association (‘‘APHA’’), and the Society of 

5 Adolescent Medicine (‘‘SAM’’), support responsible 

6 sexuality education that includes information about 

7 both abstinence and contraception. 

8 (2) Recent scientific reports by the Institute of 

9 Medicine, the American Medical Association and the 

10 Office on National AIDS Policy stress the need for 

11 sexuality education that includes messages about ab12 stinence and provides young people with information 

13 about contraception for the prevention of teen preg14 nancy, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted 

15 diseases (‘‘STDs’’). 

16 (3) Research shows that teenagers who receive 

17 sexuality education that includes discussion of con18 traception are more likely than those who receive ab19 stinence-only messages to delay sexual activity and 

20 to use contraceptives when they do become sexually 

21 active. 

22 (4) Comprehensive sexuality education pro23 grams respect the diversity of values and beliefs rep24 resented in the community and will complement and 
3

•S 368 IS 

1 augment the sexuality education children receive 

2 from their families. 

3 (5) The median age of puberty is 13 years and 

4 the average age of marriage is over 26 years old. 

5 American teens need access to full, complete, and 

6 medically and factually accurate information regard7 ing sexuality, including contraception, STD/HIV 

8 prevention, and abstinence. 

9 (6) Although teen pregnancy rates are decreas10 ing, there are still between 750,000 and 850,000 

11 teen pregnancies each year. Between 75 and 90 per12 cent of teen pregnancies among 15- to 19-year olds 

13 are unintended. 

14 (7) Studies estimate that 50 to 75 percent of 

15 the reduction in adolescent pregnancy rates is attrib16 utable to improved contraceptive use; the remainder 

17 to increased abstinence. 

18 (8) More than eight out of ten Americans be19 lieve that young people should have information 

20 about abstinence and protecting themselves from un21 planned pregnancies and sexually transmitted dis22 eases. 

23 (9) United States teens and young adults ac24 quire an estimated 4,000,000 sexually transmitted 

25 infections each year. By age 25, at least 1 of every 
4

•S 368 IS 

1 2 sexually active people will have contracted a sexu2 ally transmitted disease. 

3 (10) More than 2 young people in the United 

4 States are infected with HIV every hour of every 

5 day. African American and Hispanic youth have 

6 been disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS 

7 epidemic. Although about 15 percent of the adoles8 cent population (ages 13 to 19) in the United States 

9 is African American, nearly 60 percent of AIDS 

10 cases through 2002 among 13- to 19-year olds were 

11 among African Americans. Hispanics comprise near12 ly 16 percent of the adolescent population (ages 13 

13 to 19) in the United States and 22 percent of re14 ported adolescent AIDS cases through June 2002. 

15 SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE TO REDUCE TEEN PREGNANCY, HIV/

16 AIDS, AND OTHER SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED 

17 DISEASES AND TO SUPPORT HEALTHY ADO18 LESCENT DEVELOPMENT. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible State shall be enti20 tled to receive from the Secretary of Health and Human 

21 Services, for each of the fiscal years 2006 through 2010, 

22 a grant to conduct programs of family life education, in23 cluding education on both abstinence and contraception 

24 for the prevention of teenage pregnancy and sexually 

25 transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. 
5

•S 368 IS 

1 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR FAMILY LIFE PROGRAMS.—

2 For purposes of this Act, a program of family life edu3 cation is a program that— 

4 (1) is age-appropriate and medically accurate; 

5 (2) does not teach or promote religion; 

6 (3) teaches that abstinence is the only sure way 

7 to avoid pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases; 

8 (4) stresses the value of abstinence while not ig9 noring those young people who have had or are hav10 ing sexual intercourse; 

11 (5) provides information about the health bene12 fits and side effects of all contraceptives and barrier 

13 methods as a means to prevent pregnancy; 

14 (6) provides information about the health bene15 fits and side effects of all contraceptives and barrier 

16 methods as a means to reduce the risk of con17 tracting sexually transmitted diseases, including 

18 HIV/AIDS; 

19 (7) encourages family communication about 

20 sexuality between parent and child; 

21 (8) teaches young people the skills to make re22 sponsible decisions about sexuality, including how to 

23 avoid unwanted verbal, physical, and sexual ad24 vances and how not to make unwanted verbal, phys25 ical, and sexual advances; and
6

•S 368 IS 

1 (9) teaches young people how alcohol and drug 

2 use can affect responsible decisionmaking. 

3 (c) ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out a pro4 gram of family life education, a State may expend a grant 

5 under subsection (a) to carry out educational and motiva6 tional activities that help young people—

7 (1) gain knowledge about the physical, emo8 tional, biological, and hormonal changes of adoles9 cence and subsequent stages of human maturation; 

10 (2) develop the knowledge and skills necessary 

11 to ensure and protect their sexual and reproductive 

12 health from unintended pregnancy and sexually 

13 transmitted disease, including HIV/AIDS through14 out their lifespan; 

15 (3) gain knowledge about the specific involve16 ment of and male responsibility in sexual decision17 making; 

18 (4) develop healthy attitudes and values about 

19 adolescent growth and development, body image, 

20 gender roles, racial and ethnic diversity, sexual ori21 entation, and other subjects; 

22 (5) develop and practice healthy life skills in23 cluding goal-setting, decisionmaking, negotiation, 

24 communication, and stress management; 
7

•S 368 IS 

1 (6) promote self-esteem and positive inter2 personal skills focusing on relationship dynamics, in3 cluding, but not limited to, friendships, dating, ro4 mantic involvement, marriage and family inter5 actions; and 

6 (7) prepare for the adult world by focusing on 

7 educational and career success, including developing 

8 skills for employment preparation, job seeking, inde9 pendent living, financial self-sufficiency, and work10 place productivity. 

11 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

12 It is the sense of Congress that while States are not 

13 required to provide matching funds, they are encouraged 

14 to do so. 

15 SEC. 5. EVALUATION OF PROGRAMS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of evaluating the 

17 effectiveness of programs of family life education carried 

18 out with a grant under section 3, evaluations of such pro19 gram shall be carried out in accordance with subsections 

20 (b) and (c). 

21 (b) NATIONAL EVALUATION.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 

23 for a national evaluation of a representative sample 

24 of programs of family life education carried out with 

25 grants under section 3. A condition for the receipt 
8

•S 368 IS 

1 of such a grant is that the State involved agree to 

2 cooperate with the evaluation. The purposes of the 

3 national evaluation shall be the determination of— 

4 (A) the effectiveness of such programs in 

5 helping to delay the initiation of sexual inter6 course and other high-risk behaviors; 

7 (B) the effectiveness of such programs in 

8 preventing adolescent pregnancy; 

9 (C) the effectiveness of such programs in 

10 preventing sexually transmitted disease, includ11 ing HIV/AIDS; 

12 (D) the effectiveness of such programs in 

13 increasing contraceptive knowledge and contra14 ceptive behaviors when sexual intercourse oc15 curs; and 

16 (E) a list of best practices based upon es17 sential programmatic components of evaluated 

18 programs that have led to success in subpara19 graphs (A) through (D). 

20 (2) REPORT.—A report providing the results of 

21 the national evaluation under paragraph (1) shall be 

22 submitted to the Congress not later than March 31, 

23 2009, with an interim report provided on a yearly 

24 basis at the end of each fiscal year. 

25 (c) INDIVIDUAL STATE EVALUATIONS.— 
9

•S 368 IS 

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—A condition for the receipt 

2 of a grant under section 3 is that the State involved 

3 agree to provide for the evaluation of the programs 

4 of family education carried out with the grant in ac5 cordance with the following: 

6 (A) The evaluation will be conducted by an 

7 external, independent entity. 

8 (B) The purposes of the evaluation will be 

9 the determination of— 

10 (i) the effectiveness of such programs 

11 in helping to delay the initiation of sexual 

12 intercourse and other high-risk behaviors; 

13 (ii) the effectiveness of such programs 

14 in preventing adolescent pregnancy; 

15 (iii) the effectiveness of such pro16 grams in preventing sexually transmitted 

17 disease, including HIV/AIDS; and 

18 (iv) the effectiveness of such programs 

19 in increasing contraceptive knowledge and 

20 contraceptive behaviors when sexual inter21 course occurs. 

22 (2) USE OF GRANT.—A condition for the re23 ceipt of a grant under section 3 is that the State in24 volved agree that not more than 10 percent of the 
10

•S 368 IS 

1 grant will be expended for the evaluation under 

2 paragraph (1). 

3 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

4 For purposes of this Act: 

5 (1) The term ‘‘eligible State’’ means a State 

6 that submits to the Secretary an application for a 

7 grant under section 3 that is in such form, is made 

8 in such manner, and contains such agreements, as9 surances, and information as the Secretary deter10 mines to be necessary to carry out this Act. 

11 (2) The term ‘‘HIV/AIDS’’ means the human 

12 immunodeficiency virus, and includes acquired im13 mune deficiency syndrome. 

14 (3) The term ‘‘medically accurate’’, with respect 

15 to information, means information that is supported 

16 by research, recognized as accurate and objective by 

17 leading medical, psychological, psychiatric, and pub18 lic health organizations and agencies, and where rel19 evant, published in peer review journals. 

20 (4) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

21 of Health and Human Services. 

22 SEC. 7. APPROPRIATIONS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of carrying out 

24 this Act, there is authorized to be appropriated 

25 $206,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2010. 
11

•S 368 IS 

1 (b) ALLOCATIONS.—Of the amounts appropriated 

2 under subsection (a) for a fiscal year— 

3 (1) not more than 7 percent may be used for 

4 the administrative expenses of the Secretary in car5 rying out this Act for that fiscal year; and

6 (2) not more than 10 percent may be used for 

7 the national evaluation under section 5(b).

Æ