Support the REAL Act!

JPANet Action Alert

The New York Times reports that, according to the Center for Disease Control, 1 in 4 teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease. The health concerns for African-American girls are even greater: nearly half have one or more STDs. That’s more than 3 million teens in the United States alone. What can we do to protect our youth?

Support the REAL ACT!

Join us for a National Interfaith Call-In Day to Support Comprehensive Sexuality Education!

Since 1996, the federal government has spent over 1.4 billion dollars on ineffective abstinence-only education. These programs are not even required to be medically accurate (and frequently are not)! During this same period, zero dollars were spent on comprehensive programs that could teach about abstinence and methods of risk reduction.

The Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act would create federal funding for age-appropriate, medically-accurate sexuality education programs. These programs would be required to stress the value of abstinence without teaching or promoting religion.

For over 30 years, the United Church of Christ has encouraged churches to study and work on issues of human sexuality. This call-in day (which is happening in conjunction with a UCC and Unitarian Universalist Association day of action on Capitol Hill) is the perfect opportunity for us to let Congress know that according to our religious values, young people deserve accurate information!

Get REAL! Call your Members of Congress today!

In response to the actions of General Synod and to the needs expressed by members of UCC congregations, the United Church of Christ has completed life-span resources that will bring the ministry of sexuality education to UCC members of all ages for years to come. For more information and resources click here!

Call in Instructions

Call your Members of Congress on Monday, March 17th

Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121 and ask for your Representative or Senator (www.house.gov; www.senate.gov)

Suggested Message:

“I’m calling today to ask for the Senator to support the REAL Act (S.972; H.R. 1653) which
would provide federal funding for comprehensive sexuality education programs.
As a religious person I'm outraged that we're failing to protect the health of our nation's young people by funding abstinence-only programs that promote medically inaccurate information. Please support the REAL Act.”