Bill Text: HI SR8 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Resolution 8 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Keiki Caucus; Public Schools; Teenage Pregnancy Prevention

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-01-29 - (S) Referred to EDH/HTH. [SR8 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2010-SR8-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	8
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

ENCOURAGING PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO EMPHASIZE TEENAGE PREGNANCY PREVENTION AND SUPPORT PREVENTION STRATEGIES.

WHEREAS, according to the Hawaii Department of Human Services, Hawaii's teenage pregnancy rate is greater than the national average; and

WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2007 that 36.2 per cent of Hawaii high school students had sexual intercourse before the age of thirteen; and

WHEREAS, teenage pregnancy can disrupt families and is linked with lower educational attainment and lower economic well-being of parents and their children; and

WHEREAS, section 321-11.1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires that "[s]exuality health education programs funded by the State shall provide medically accurate and factual information that is age appropriate and includes education on abstinence, contraception, and methods of disease prevention to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease, including human immunodeficiency virus"; and

WHEREAS, despite the statutory provision for education on pregnancy prevention, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's national Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance for 2007 indicates that 54.2 per cent of sexually active high school students in Hawaii used a condom during their last sexual intercourse, which was the lowest condom use rate of all states for that survey; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii youth have expressed the need for more materials and school curriculum to emphasize the prevention of teenage pregnancy and the need for greater availability of teenage pregnancy prevention items, such as condoms; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, that public schools are encouraged to place greater emphasis on teenage pregnancy prevention in their curricula; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that public schools are encouraged to make available more items, such as condoms, that support and enable teenagers to apply the pregnancy prevention strategies taught in the classroom; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, and the President of the Hawaii State PTSA.