Roundup: Compulsory Sex Education, GOP Ballot Initiative Strategy

Independent council in UK recommends compulsory comprehensive sex education, GOP attempts to lure conservatives to polls with ballot initiatives, 49% of IVF treatments result in multiple births, Ashley Judd discovers importance of family planning in Africa.

Sex Education ‘Must Be Compulsory In Schools’ … The UK’s Independent
Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV is set to recommend to Parliament that comprehensive sex education be required for all students. Britain’s teens suffer from rising rates of STI infection and have seen rises in unwanted teen pregnancies as well:

Earlier this month the Health Protection Agency warned that risky sex among
teenagers and twenty-somethings was driving up rates of STIs.

Overall the number of infections rose 6 per cent in 2007 over the previous
year, from 375,843 cases to 397,990 and half of all newly diagnosed
infections were in 16 to 24-year-olds.

Britain also currently has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in
Western Europe.

The council is suggesting relationships education to teach students about the psychological and emotional impacts of sexual relationships to go along with information about safe sex and encouragement to stay abstinent as long as possible.

GOP Employing Rove Ballot Initiative Strategy … The GOP is hoping to bring conservative voters to the polls in key states with ballot initiatives that conservatives are often passionate about. The strategy, formulated by Karl Rove, helped George W. Bush win key states in the 2004 election. This November voters in California will vote again on parental notification for abortion, Colorado voters will decide whether or not to legally define the beginning of life at conception and South Dakota voters will vote on an abortion ban proposal.

49% of IVF Patients Have Multiple Births … During IVF treatments doctors often implant two or three fertilized embryos in an effort to increase the chances that at least one embry will implant. The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology says that 49% of IVF treatments result inthe birth of twins or triplets.

Ashley Judd Learns First Hand About Importance of Family Planning … Actress Ashley Judd is an ambassador for YouthAIDS and in May of this year visited Rawanda. There she met Therese and Victor, a couple who has recently benefited greatly from contraception and family planning services but not before Therese suffered through several painful self-induced herbal abortions. Judd tells the story of Therese and Victor in a diary entry from her trip.