Refusing to Consider Routine, Long-Standing Contracts Puts Programs in Manchester and Claremont at Risk
CONCORD – On Tuesday, October 4, Executive Council members Joe Kenney, Ted Gatsas, and Dave Wheeler refused to consider routine contracts for a comprehensive sex education and teen parent resource program. Their refusal to take this funding off the table puts the continuation of these long-standing programs at risk.
Liz Canada, Advocacy Manager for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said, “The Executive Council’s vote to deny funding for evidence-based sexual health education and resources for adolescents and pregnant or parenting teens jeopardizes the ability of New Hampshire’s most vulnerable young people to get the critical information and support they need to form healthy relationships, avoid sexually transmitted infections, prevent unintended pregnancy, and parent effectively.
“For nearly a decade, these federally-funded programs have operated in Manchester and Claremont with bipartisan support, because ensuring that young people have access to medically accurate sex education is an investment in the next generation of Granite Staters.
“The Executive Council’s vote is outrageous given the increase in sexually transmitted infection rates in New Hampshire. Now is not the time to risk the ability of trusted community organizations to deliver what could be life-saving information and support.
“New Hampshire needs elected officials who put people before politics but this Executive Council vote is an attack on the health and well-being of New Hampshire’s most vulnerable youth that jeopardizes their bright futures,” Canada said.
BACKGROUND:
- Item #17Aprovides funding for community providers in Hillsborough and Sullivan Counties to facilitate the Personal Responsibility Education Programs (PREP) to adolescents, which includes evidence-based sexual health education on abstinence and contraception. The program requires parental consent of youth participation.
- The program is targeted toward adolescents who are at high risk of pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (19 years or younger), or pregnant/parents (21 years or younger), including but not limited to:
- Homeless youth
- Foster care
- Living with HIV/AIDS
- Victims of human trafficking
- The program is targeted toward adolescents who are at high risk of pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (19 years or younger), or pregnant/parents (21 years or younger), including but not limited to:
- The State PREP program is federally funded by the Family & Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) and is administered by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NH DHHS), Division of Public Health Services (NH DPHS).
- Even before this pandemic, STI rates were on the rise in New Hampshire, with syphilis and gonorrhea rates increasing again in recent years — and research shows COVID-19 has further interrupted STI screenings. Chlamydia and Gonorrhea rates are highest in Hillsborough county.
- Young people between the ages of 13 and 24 represent 32% of all gonorrhea cases in New Hampshire; for chlamydia, they represent 63% of cases in the state.
- New Hampshire has some of the lowest rates of unintended pregnancy rates and teen pregnancy rates in the country, in but they are higher in Sullivan county than other parts of the state.