On November 18th, thirty-six activists packed a crowded Statehouse hearing room to witness the first ever proponent testimony for the Ohio Prevention First Act (HB 293). In total, sixteen witnesses provided testimony. Copies of submitted testimony are available at www.ppao.org.

The witnesses represented a variety of backgrounds and levels of expertise and included testimony from:

• two medical doctors
• a clergyman
• a professor of health education
• a sexual assault survivor
• high school and college students
• two social workers
• a person denied birth control by a pharmacist
• the Ohio Business and Professional Women
• the National Council of Jewish Women
• Lucas County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative
• the League of Women Voters
• the Coalition for Family Health

The insight from these individuals and the patience of our supporters to sit through testimony until 9PM has helped the Ohio House Health Committee understand exactly why this legislation is so desperately needed.


During the Ohio Prevention First Act hearing, Coalition for Family Health convener Judi Wolf presented testimony on the need for comprehensive sex education. Her testimony was followed by the claim from Representative Lynn Wachtmann (R-Napoleon) that pro-prevention advocates are encouraging young people to be anything but abstinent and will contribute to the increase in sexually transmitted diseases. He accused advocates of comprehensive sex education of having an agenda that puts young people at a greater level of risk.

Ms. Wolf replied that medically-accurate, age-appropriate sex education will give young people the understanding of how to prevent contracting STDs. She informed the committee that students do not receive adequate education from abstinence-only programs.

Rep. Wachtmann's reply, "You're wrong!"

Really, Representative Wachtmann?

Ironically, two days before the hearing, the Centers for Disease Control released their study of STD rates in America. Their finding: STD rates increased significantly in 2008. This increase occurred at a time when the federal government gave millions of dollars to states, including Ohio, to provide abstinence-only programming.

Dr. John Douglas, head of the CDC's Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention, said to avoid STDs, teens can delay the beginning of sexual activity, people can limit the number of sexual partners and use condoms. "Condoms have risk-reduction value for every sexually transmitted condition," Douglas said.

Either the Centers for Disease Control has an agenda set on harming teens or maybe it's Representative Wachtmann who is wrong.





-Gabriel