For Immediate Release:
May 3, 2005

Contact: Adrienne Verrilli at:
212-819-9770

Washington, DC – On behalf of 145 health and advocacy organizations, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS) submitted a second letter to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt, explicitly asking for written response from the Secretary to the issues raised in the March 31 letter seeking removal and review of HHS' 4parents.gov website. The organizations uniformly feel that the 4parents.gov presents biased and inaccurate information as fact and does not address the needs of many youth, including sexually active youth, youth who have been or are being sexually abused, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.

“The request by 145 health and advocacy organizations from across this nation to remove and review the 4parents.gov website has largely been ignored by Secretary Leavitt and HHS,” said Bill Smith, vice president for public policy of SIECUS. “No substantive actions have been taken by HHS to correct the medical misinformation or biases on the site,” Smith said. “All we have learned is that someone is collecting letters for possible future review. Given the serious nature of our concerns, that is completely unacceptable,” Smith continued.

Specifically, the organizations are seeking:

1. The immediate removal of the 4parents.gov website and the launch of a formal review of its content and techniques for communication and behavioral learning be undertaken.
   
2. All information related to whether or not a competitive process was used to select the National Physicians Center for Family Resources as the cooperating organization in the creation of 4parents.gov and if not, how they were chosen to assist the Department.
   
3. The disclosure of the full amount of taxpayer funds provided to the National Physicians Center in exchange for their assistance in creating 4parents.gov.

“We hope this second request for review and removal of 4parents.gov will remind the Secretary that he works for the American people and that he should be providing our nation's parents with medically accurate and inclusive information that will promote the health and well being of all of our families,” Smith said.