UPDATE: THIS BILL HAS PASSED THE SENATE BUT STILL WE NEED THE HOUSE TO PASS IT!

Please send an email or make a phone call to your State House Representative and ask him/her to support this bill. Find Cape and Islands legislators contact here. If you don’t know who your state rep is, or are not on Cape Cod check here to find your rep and his/her contact information.

Never done this before? Uncomfortable contacting your state rep?  Read this: “Calls to Action – A Pep Talk!”

Please leave a comment at the bottom of this post or email us if you get an answer from your legislator, we are keeping track of responses, it helps us identify who needs more contact.

ABOUT THIS BILL:

The bill stipulates that public schools teach sexual education in a medically-accurate, LGBTQ-inclusive way.  This is a great pdf put together by Planned Parenthood that describes this bill and why it is so important.

Full text of bill here.

Planned Parenthood Advocacy has great information about why we need this bill, including this clip:

An Act Relative to Healthy Youth ensures that a Massachusetts school electing to teach sex education uses a curriculum that’s medically accurate, age-appropriate, and truly comprehensive.  A comprehensive sex education curriculum teaches students about the benefits of abstinence and delaying sex, building healthy relationships, consent, gender identity and sexual orientation, effective contraceptive use, and the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).   read more here

This is a sample script for a phone call or email, use all or part of it.  But, the best email/call is one with a short personal message and if you have a personal story to add that is even better! Phone calls will get you in touch with your state rep’s staff, or voicemail. Rarely do they answer their own phones.

Hi, my name is __________, and I live in ___________.
I’m calling to ask my state rep to bring the Healthy Youth Act to the floor for a vote.

In the #MeToo era, I expect my state rep to vote to this bill and ensure young people have the information they need to stay safe and healthy.

This legislation would help ensure young people learn about consent, how to build healthy relationships, and the benefits of delaying sex, as well as how to prevent pregnancy and STIs if they become sexually active.

The Healthy Youth Act is not a mandate and continues to allow parents to take their children out of school-based sex ed.

I support the Healthy Youth Act because … [A dd your own story, if you like]

Thank you for your time

Please take action! It’s easy. And when you contact your state rep. remember, they work for you, and you can always support his/her opponent.

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(If you see errors or omissions please contact CapeCodWomenforChange@gmail.com)

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It’s all about education, the more they know, the more they have the tools to make the right decisions.