DEMOCRATIC leaders are right to contest President Bush’s veto of their bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance program. But sadly, their “bipartisan compromise” will leave millions of young Americans vulnerable to sickness and suffering of the most preventable kind.

To entice Republicans to support the bill, the House of Representatives agreed to increase money for abstinence-only sex education by $28 million, to a total of about $200 million a year. Abstinence-only courses, the only form of federally financed sex ed, teach that sexual activity outside of marriage is likely to cause psychological and physical harm.

If that were true, our health care system would be not only broken, but besieged. A 2002 survey found that 93 percent of American adults had had premarital sex by the age of 30.

In addition to provoking shame about a nearly universal activity, abstinence-only sex education is ineffective and dangerous. Last April, a 10-year study found that students who took abstinence-only courses were no more likely to abstain from sex than other students. Previous studies revealed that abstinence-only students avoid using contraception.

Programs in public schools teach patently false information like “the chances of getting pregnant with a condom are one out of six” and H.I.V. “may be in your body for a long time (from a few months to as long as 10 years or more) before it can be detected.”

The results are tragic. The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the developed world (about the same as Ukraine’s), and the highest abortion rate in the Western world. Sexually transmitted infections like syphilis and gonorrhea are on the rise for the first time since the 1980s, and chlamydia is being diagnosed twice as often as it was a decade ago.

Among Americans living in poverty — those who might see the $4 price of a three-pack of condoms as the take-home pay for an hour of work at minimum wage — the unintended pregnancy rate has increased 30 percent since 1994.

Our teenage pregnancy and abortion rates have declined during the last decade, but research suggests this is mainly because of increased use of condoms, something young people must learn about outside of school.

By dropping the financing for abstinence-only sex ed, Congress could save enough money to insure 150,000 children a year. And it would also demonstrate much needed resolve to protect all aspects of children’s health.

WASHINGTON, July 12 (AP) — Fewer high school students were having sex and more were using condoms in 2005, according to the latest government report on the well-being of the nation’s children.

The teenage birthrate hit a record low.

More young people were finishing high school, and more tots were being read to.

It is good news on a number of crucial indicators of health, experts said about the report. It is scheduled to be released Friday by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, a consortium of federal agencies that includes the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Census Bureau and the Administration for Children and Families.

“The implications for the population are quite positive in terms of their health and their well-being,” said Edward J. Sondik, director of the National Center for Health Statistics. “The lower figure on teens having sex means the risk of sexually transmitted diseases is lower.”

In 2005, 47 percent of high school students — 6.7 million — reported having had sexual intercourse, down from 54 percent in 1991. The rate of those who reported having had sex had remained the same since 2003.

Of those who reported having had sex during a three-month period in 2005, 63 percent — about 9 million — said they used condoms. That is an increase from the 46 percent reported in 1991.

The teenage birth rate in 2005, the report said, was 21 per 1,000 young women ages 15 to 17 — an all-time low. The rate in 1991 was 39 births per 1,000 teenagers.

“This is very good news,” Mr. Sondik said. “Young teen mothers and their babies are at a greater risk of both immediate and long-term difficulties.”

Education campaigns that started years ago have been having a significant effect, said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, a nonprofit group based in Washington that focuses on the prevention of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

“I think the H.I.V./AIDS epidemic and the efforts in the ’80s and ’90s had a lot to do with that,” Mr. Wagoner said of the improved numbers on teenage sexual activity, condom use and births.

“We need to encourage young teens to delay sexual initiation, and we need to make sure they get all the information they need about condoms and birth control,” he said.

Other major points of the report include the following:

• The percentage of children covered by health insurance decreased slightly. In 2005, 89 percent of children had health insurance coverage at some point during the year, compared with 90 percent the previous year.
• More youngsters were being read to. Sixty percent of children ages 3 to 5, and not in kindergarten, were read to daily by a family member in 2005, an increase from 53 percent in 1993.
• The percentage of children who had at least one parent working year round and full time increased to 78.3 percent in 2005 from 77.6 percent in the previous year.
• More young people were completing high school. In 2005, 88 percent of young adults had finished high school compared with 84 percent in 1980.
• The report was compiled from statistics and studies at 22 federal agencies, and covered 38 indicators, including infant mortality, academic achievement rates and the number of children living in poverty.

As young people attending the 4^th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights, we strongly protest the ban against sex education recently imposed by 12 Indian State Governments.

The ban opposes the training tools used under Adolescent Education Programme developed by the Union Ministry of Education along with NACO and UNICEF.

This ban violates our right to information, right to education, right to health under the Indian Constitution and breaches India’s international commitments under UN treaties and declarations.

Young people need comprehensive sexuality education so that they are empowered to make informed decisions relating to their bodies without fear, shame or guilt. Given the right information and skills, young people can negotiate high-risk situations more effectively and reduce their vulnerability to violence, HIV and substance abuse.

Arguments based on culture or morality, such as those made by the Chief Minister of the State of Madhya Pradesh, are invalid and do not justify denying young people the information and skills they need and are entitled to.

Comprehensive sexuality education does not ‘corrupt young minds’ but that the lack of information leads young people to access false, incomplete and harmful information.

 Remaja?? Remaja adalah…? “Pemberontak yang selalu ingin tahu dan coba-coba mengejar kebebasan”. Remaja tidak pernah lepas dari citra negatif yang dibangun oleh oleh lingkungan yang tidak memahami remaja.

Remaja cenderung memberontak dan suka menentang nilai dan norma di lingkungannya yang dinilai tidak sreg dengan darah muda yang menggebu-gebu. Di masa puber ini, remaja juga cenderung berpikir kritis. Larangan tanpa alasan yang logis adalah tembok penghalang yang irrasional yang harus digempur habis-habisan. Maka seringkali kita mendengar para orang tua atau guru mengeluhkan sikap remaja yang suka membangkang dan melawan orang tua, karena menurut persepsi mereka argumentasi orang tua ketika melarang tidaklah cukup kuat untuk mengunci rapat pikiran kritis remaja. Sayangnya, rasa ingin tahu dan pikiran kritis ini tidak dipuaskan dengan iinformasi yang benar oleh pihak-pihak terdekatnya. Sehingga, seringkali remaja membongkar arsip-arsip informasi yang belum jelas kebenarannya dan menelusuri akses informasi yang melewati kategori remaja, seperti misalnya situs-situs porno yang lebih banyak mengumbar aksi-aksi yang melahirkan mitos-mitos baru yang berdampak buruk bagi remaja.

Remaja identik denga masa pencarian jati diri, remaja selalu ingin mengeksplorasi diri seluas-luasnya dan sebebas-bebasnya! Remaja ingin bebas berekspresi dan bereksperimen dalam mengeksplorasi diri. Hampir semua jalan dicoba hanya untuk menjawab sebuah pertanyaan besar yang sangatlah mendasar dalam hidupnya, “siapa aku?”.

Tidak jarang sifat suka coba-coba ini mengantarkan remaja ke arah negatif yang merugikan masa depannya, misalnya saja penyalahgunaan narkoba (drugs abuse), hubungan seks di usia remaja yang kemudian melahirkan segudang masalah baru bagi remaja seperti kehamilan tidak diinginkan (KTD), drop out dari sekolah karena hamil, pernikahan dini yang rentan konflik dan perceraian karena menikah tanpa kesiapan diri, aborsi, dan masih banyak lagi masalah yang menggauli remaja yang membuat remaja identik dengan “makhluk bermasalah”.

Fenomena ini terjadi ketika remaja coba-coba mengejar kebebasan sampai kebablasan! Tanpa disertai pemahaman edukasi akan informasi yang benar dari pihak yang bertanggung jawab. Hingga saat ini belum ada akses informasi yang benar dan bertanggung jawab untuk remaja.

Kisara (Kita Sayang Remaja) lahir pada 14 Mei 1994, sebagai bentuk keprihatinan terhadap remaja yang seringkali terjabak kasus terkait dengan kesehatan reproduksi seperti KTD, aborsi dan drugs abuse.

Kisara lahir dibidani oleh tokoh seksolog kondang Prof. Wimpie Pangkahila dan dr. Mangku Karmaya, salah satu tokoh perintis PKBI (Perkumpulan Keluargra Berencana Indonesia) Daerah Bali, yang merupakan induk organisasi Kisara.

Kisara merupakan organisasi yang peduli tehadap permasalahan remaja. Selama hampir 14 tahun lamanya Kisara mengemban visi-misi membentuk Remaja Bertanggung Jawab melalui pendekatan dari, oleh dan untuk remaja.

Selain itu Kisara bersinergi dengan pihak lain dalam rangka upaya advokasi pendidikan kesehatan reproduksi remaja.

Organisasi yang beralamatkan di Jalan Gatot Subroto IV No. 6 ini, sejak pertama kali didirikan merupakan Pusat Informasi Dan Konseling Remaja. Dalam upaya mencapai visi, Kisara mempunyai perpanjangan tangan dan kaki yang digerakkan oleh remaja berdaya, berupa program-program yang youth friendly.