Statewide Chair Mary McLellan Heritage Community Services Regional Chairs Mariscia Cooper (Pee Dee) Charlie Lybrand (Lowcountry) Lenna Neill (Upstate) Rev. Randy Riddle (Grand Strand) Dr. Roger Rollins (CSRA) Charlotte Valentine-Green (Ace Basin)   Advisory Council Eugene Bacote Sumter School Dist.17 Dr. Vera Bailey Hilton Head Preg. Care Center Pamela Berry Colleton Fire and Rescue Dr. Vonda Calcutt Lowcountry Ctr. Diabetes Sen. Chip Campsen Charleston/Berkeley Rev. Chuck Coward Charleston Outreach Robin Crosby Colleton County Ligure Ellington Ret.Capt. Charleston City Police Dr. Randy Goings Chiropractic Physician Faye Hill Lowcountry Pregnancy Center & SC Association Pregnancy Care Centers WC Hoecke Fatherhood Practioner Leroy Lewis Upward Bound at Cof C Norman L. Moore, Jr. Colonel, USAFR(Ret) Cyndi Mosteller Comm. for Higher Education Alexia Newman Carolina Pregnancy Center Fred Payne Marriage Savers of Upstate Jerry & Barbara Seymour R& R Marriage Min. Ronald Shoupe Colleton County Dr. A. V. Strong A Better Way, Inc. (Gang Out) Dr. Robert Thomas Pulmonary Medicine Pastor Phil Thrailkill St. Luke UMC Hartsville Kelly Walker Upstate Fatherhood Coalition	July 15, 2009 SC Healthy Family Formation Coalition E-News! Telling teenagers how to avoid sexual activity should be common ground for all parents. Healthy Family Formation is entering a very dark and bleak era in America.  The Planned Parenthood and SIECUS takeover of sex education through our own government infrastructure will not bode well for our children and grandchildren.  The following update from the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA) should alarm all concerned parents.   Without a hint of debate, it appears that Congress is primed to completely abolish Abstinence-Centered Education in our tax funded government schools.   Within a year, Contraception-based sex education will be the standard for all school age children in all government schools. Our ‘leaders’ may have given up on our teens, but we cannot. Parents still have choices about the types of sex education their children receive. 1. By law, parents and guardians have the right to opt out their child from the comprehensive sex education taught in the government schools.  Take notice of the forms sent home during the first week of school. 2.  Find out how much of the sex education content includes the benefits of waiting (until marriage) for sex.  Is there more than just an obligatory “abstinence is the best choice” message?  Medically accurate information and life skills that change attitudes and behavior towards abstinence should be evident.  Is the word ‘Marriage’ even used in the curricula?  (Heritage Foundation Report) 3.  Are the sex education messages in line with your family standards?  Are they the BEST message for your child and his/her peers?  Are you willing to settle for second best or worse, because of our sex saturated culture?  (Abstinence Works) 4.  Parents can request Abstinence-Centered Education be taught in other venues such as churches, synagogues, mosques, private schools and community outreach centers. (Why Be True and Heritage Community Services) 5.  Do the sex educators believe kids can control themselves?  Do they send mixed messages?  Seek out educators that will encourage your teen to delay sexual activity!  (Why Be True and Heritage Community Services) 6.  Is the sex education curricula effective at changing attitudes, behaviors and intent towards abstinence?  Or, is it only successful at getting kids to use condoms at last intercourse?  What does the research say about results pertaining to abstinence?  Has their been any research on the curricula or is it just on the state approved list?  (Abstinence Works) 7.  Contact the SCHFF Coalition if you need any assistance.  Participate in the discourse.  We are not afraid of debate around these issues because debate brings out truth and builds non-partisan consensus.  Demand the BEST Message for your child and change the culture.   NAEA UPDATE   Appropriations Subcommittee Abolishes Abstinence Education Funding On July 10, the House Labor HHS, Education Appropriations subcommittee struck all abstinence education funding from the 2010 budget. The bill goes to the full Appropriations Committee next week for a vote. Much debate will ensue in both the House and Senate before a funding bill is sent to the President, but this action was a stunning departure from previous bipartisan efforts to support the sexual health of America's youth through abstinence education. Expiration of Title V Shows Sex Education Going "Full Circle" Columnist Cheryl Wetzstein can't understand why Democratic leadership would want to stop abstinence education. Read more here …   News from Other States (SC Next?) California The ACLU is bullying Northern California schools by demanding that they cease providing abstinence education. They are attempting to intimidate schools by erroneously telling them that they are in violation of state law if abstinence education continues. Read more here New Jersey Jersey City teens are empowered with the skills they learn in an abstinence program, Free Teens. They model the behavior presented by their mentors, who are role models because they live the lifestyle before those they mentor. Read more here North Carolina On July 1, Gov Perdue (NC) signed a new sex ed plan into law.  Viewed by some as a compromise, the new law requires all students be offered contraceptive information in their classrooms, while still emphasizing abstinence until marriage as the healthiest choice. Read more Utah Planned Parenthood misleads parents on the content of abstinence education programs. Using the model recently passed in North Carolina, the anti-abstinence group is rebranding so-called comprehensive sex education and misrepresenting abstinence education in their attempt to require contraceptive promotion in Utah's schools. This model is also being recommended to other states under the guise of promoting parental choice. Parental choice, however, is only true choice when parents understand the true nature and priority of both approaches - a component strangely missing from this new strategy. Read more here RESEARCH & CURRENT CULTURAL NEWS Couples study debunks 'trial marriage' notion of cohabiting With more than half of Americans cohabiting before marriage, a new study questions the popular notion that this arrangement is designed to test the success of a future marriage. The authors find a disconnect between what teens and young adults think about living together and what the data actually reveals. Read more here Join the SC Healthy Family Formation Coalition!
	The South Carolina Healthy Family Formation Coalition (SC HFF Coalition) is organized and staffed by Heritage Community Services. The SC HFF Coalition promotes child and family well-being by providing opportunities for statewide communication about such issues as: adolescent pregnancy, unwed childbearing, fatherlessness, sexual exploitation of our youth, dating violence and domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, gang activity and youth violence.    Coalition members support healthy family formation initiatives that integrate character-based life skills, teen pregnancy prevention with an emphasis on abstinence-centered education, and the importance of fidelity-within-marriage.   Together we can impact our culture so that forming healthy families becomes a norm, rather than the exception, for South Carolina.   Please, forward this E-News to interested friends, family and colleagues and ask them to consider joining the Coalition.   Join/Subscribe   Unsubscribe   PRIVACY POLICY: Information you share will never be sold, rented, or given to any third party.   Contact Mary McLellan , Statewide Chairman (843)654-7740 ext.122