Planned Parenthood spearheaded a series of events intended to draw attention to the lack of congressional support for comprehensive sex ed programs last week as a part of the nationwide Comprehensive Sex Education Week of Action. Its efforts went largely unacknowledged by the public and policymakers. But one student group, WSU’s Voices of Planned Parenthood, set out to inform the masses.

As part of the Week of Action, Voices of Planned Parenthood, or VOX, set up a table on Glenn Terrell Mall. Members gave away condoms and coupons for other forms of birth control, as well as information about sexual health.

Meanwhile, VOX used the opportunity to collect signatures in support of House bill HR 1653. This bill, called the Responsible Education About Life Act, or REAL Act, is designed to reduce teen pregnancies, HIV rates and other sexually transmitted infections through the funding of new state education programs. It was proposed in 2007, referred to a health subcommittee and never heard of again.

On a campus where free condoms litter the pavement of Glenn Terrell Mall, it’s easy to take our right to sex education for granted. In Washington state, students are lawfully entitled to receive information about all aspects relevant to their sexual health. This includes knowledge about the benefits of both abstinence and contraceptives.

Pullman’s Planned Parenthood Public Affairs Field Organizer Tabitha Simmons said, “That’s what it’s really about … giving students access to information and resources, making sure they know where to go for birth control.” Unfortunately, this is not the case in other states. Indeed, federally funded abstinence-until-marriage programs are precluded from discussing contraception, except to talk about failure rates. Even then, the discussion is outdated and uninformed. A 2006 report from the Government Accountability Office concluded that such programs are rarely reviewed and medically inaccurate.

Considering that the median age of puberty is 13 years, and the average age of marriage is now more than 26 years, it seems our policymakers have a great deal of faith in the chastity of America’s young people. If only that faith would prevent teen pregnancy and the transmission of STIs, exclusively abstinence-until-marriage teaching would actually work.

However, the United States has the highest rate of infection from sexually transmitted infections of any industrialized country, and the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world, according to the bill. Between 750,000 and 850,000 teen pregnancies occur each year, and between 75 and 90 percent of them are unintended.

Planned Parenthood isn’t the only organization that recognizes the obvious shortcomings of the current system. In support of the REAL Act, the American Public Health Association has called for replacing federal funding for abstinence-only programs with funding that combines information about abstinence with age-appropriate education.

So far, the federal government has refused to require or even provide financial backing for such programs. Thus, it is up to us to demand the passing of the REAL Act and the reevaluation of sex education on a national level.

Tricia Christensen, senior psychology major and president of VOX, promised that the group will continue to work toward this goal as the year progresses.

“Safer sex is sexy,” she said. “That’s why we’re still here.” And that’s why we, the privileged residents of a progressive state, must not forget our peers who continue to suffer the ignorance of an outdated system.

Ignorance is anything but sexy.