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COLORADO

Colorado received $3,526,520 in federal funds for
Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in Fiscal Year 2006.1

 

Colorado Sexuality Education Law and Policy
Colorado schools are not required to teach sexuality or sexually transmitted disease (STD) education. However, Colorado law states that districts can decide whether to teach sexuality education and may address the subject in preschool through twelfth grade.  Colorado law also states that when offered, sexuality education classes must use curricula that are science-based, age-appropriate, culturally sensitive, medically accurate, and address the topics of both abstinence and contraception, including emergency contraception.

The Colorado Department of Education is charged with providing guidelines as to the length of courses, the subjects included, and the manner in which these subjects are addressed. The department also provides guidelines on teacher training in sexuality education that include information about high-risk behaviors. Under Colorado law, whenever sexuality education and/or human reproduction is taught, teachers must emphasize abstinence.

Parents or guardians must be notified if a sexuality education course is taught and given an opportunity to review the curriculum. Parents or guardians may remove their children from sexuality education or STD/HIV education classes by sending written notice to the school. This is referred to as an “opt-out” policy. However, if a school receives state funding to teach sexuality education, then parents and guardians must receive written notification about the topics and materials to be presented and must give prior written approval before their child can participate in “any program discussing or teaching sexuality and human reproduction.” This is referred to as an “opt-in” policy.

See Colorado Statutes 22-25-104, 22-25-106, 22-25-110 and 25-4-1405.

Recent Legislation

Legislation to Require Medical Accuracy
House Bill 1292, introduced in February 2007 and referred to the Committee on Education, would require school districts, family resource centers, and teen pregnancy-prevention programs offering instruction regarding human sexuality to adopt science-based content standards and provide instruction that is age-appropriate, culturally sensitive, and medically accurate, and that includes information on abstinence and contraception, including emergency contraception. HB 1292 passed in the House and Senate, and was signed into law by Governor Bill Ritter on May 14, 2007.   

Legislation Aims to Create an Opt-Out Policy in Schools
In February 2007, House Bill 1300 was introduced in the Colorado State Legislature by Representative Nancy Todd. This bill would eliminate the requirement that school officials in Colorado receive written consent from a parent and/or guardian before his and/or her child may participate in an educational program that discusses human sexuality. School officials would still be required to provide parents and/or guardians the option to excuse a student (without penalty) from the portion of a curriculum that concerns human sexuality. This would constitute a move from an “opt-in policy” to an “opt-out policy.” The bill is scheduled for a second reading in spring 2007.
 
Bill Establishes HIV/AIDS Prevention Program
HB 1054, signed by the governor in August 2006, establishes a competitive grant program to address local community needs in the areas of medically accurate HIV/AIDS prevention and education. An advisory committee, made up of members recommended by various relevant agencies in the state, will oversee the grant program and the Colorado General Assembly is tasked with appropriating funds not to exceed two million dollars in any fiscal year. The funds will come from a tobacco litigation settlement fund already established by the state.

Events of Note

Colorado Springs Fights Back Against Kansas Hate Group
March 2005; Colorado Springs, CO
More than 500 people, including community members, students, and school officials resisted harassment by members of the Westboro Baptist Church, lead by radical Rev. Fred Phelps. Ten representatives of Phelps’ group picketed in front of Palmer High School with signs bearing homophobic slogans such as “God hates fags” to protest the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA). In 2004, the school denied students permission to form a GSA and the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of one of the students in the club. The lawsuit has since been settled with the understanding that the GSA now has the same rights and standing as any other school club.2

Community members, students, and school officials proclaimed their opposition to Phelps’ group and held signs with slogans such as “Teach Love.” The counter-protest was organized by several local groups, including the Citizens Project, a Colorado Springs group that advocates for the separation of church and state. Vice Mayor Richard Skorman responded to the Westboro Baptist Church protest by saying, “I want to say loud and clear that these people are not welcome in our city, and I have the support of all of council to say that. And I wish they would go home and leave us alone. People in Colorado Springs do not support what they do, and they need to leave us alone and mind their own business, because we’re a city of everybody.”3

To counter a second demonstration by the Westboro Baptist Church, the Citizens Project worked with the Pikes Peak Inter-Religious Clergy Alliance to organize a panel of diverse religious leaders who spoke on the subject of tolerance and faith. While the Westboro Baptist Church held up signs outside City Hall proclaiming, “Thank God for September 11th” and “God hates you,” the panel organizers found a silver lining by discussing tolerance and love.

This was not the first time that followers of Westboro Baptist Church came to Colorado Springs. On previous occasions, the congregation had unleashed its anger against the right-wing group Focus on the Family, at its Colorado Springs headquarters. The group opposed Focus on the Families’ ministry aimed at “turning gay people back to a heterosexual lifestyle.”

Colorado Springs School District Cancels Sexuality Education Presentations
April 2005; Colorado Springs, CO
After a continuous struggle in Colorado Springs’ largest school district, D-11, three principals ultimately cancelled Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (PPRM)’s scheduled sexuality education presentations in high school classes.4 PPRM had been coming into the schools by invitation for 17 years, and had conducted more than 200 presentations a year in the school district. The educators were not allowed to talk about abortion or birth control, but could speak about condoms for STD-prevention purposes.5

The controversy first gained attention in October 2004, when anti-choice protestors displayed graphic pictures of supposedly aborted fetuses outside Palmer High School during a PPRM presentation. A Colorado Springs school board member then suggested prohibiting PPRM from teaching in the school. He said, “We’re allowing what I view as morally confused groups like Planned Parenthood into our schools which are now confusing our students with a contradictory message.”6

A school board meeting in January 2005 attracted an audience of more than 200 people from both sides of the debate. A school board member in favor of the proposal to ban PPRM from the school district said, “It’s a message that says we give up, you’re uncontrollable little animals. There’s no hope for you. Here’s how to use a condom.”7 One woman told the board, “Our children deserve better.… Let us focus on bringing our boys and girls to purity.”8

Many people, however, supported PPRM, including one person who held a large orange sign proclaiming, “Ignorance is shocking. Sex ed is not.”9 The PPRM spokeswoman defended her organization and said it provides “safe, responsible medically accurate information to students.” A local teen, who also spoke in support of PPRM, said, “Teens are sexually active, and they will continue to be, even if you enforce abstinence-only education.”10

After a two-hour debate, the school board rejected a motion to ban PPRM from high school classes. Only a month later, however, anti-choice zealots once again threatened to target D-11 schools with disruptive protests. Still shaken up from the earlier protests, which included a direct and violent attack on a teacher, the district’s principals grew concerned about the students’ safety and cancelled PPRM’s presentations in order to protect the students from harassment and intimidation.11

Though disappointed about the cancellations, PPRM supports the principals’ decisions regarding the students’ safety. “We certainly understand where the schools are coming from and we don’t want to interfere with the education of these students,” said PPRM’s vice president of public affairs.

School District Considers New Sexuality Education Curricula
November 2004; Fort Collins, CO
The Poudre School District (PSD) considered a curriculum created by its Health Curriculum Advisory Board, which is made up of parents, community representatives, PSD staff, members of the faith community, and one student, and had been debating various sexuality education curricula for over two years.

During the 2003–04 school year, the original Health Curriculum Advisory Board recommended two new sexuality education curricula—Sex Can Wait and Reducing the Risk—to the Board of Education. After a number of heated community debates, however, the board decided to postpone the curriculum decision, hire an outside consultant, and add more voices to the Health Curriculum Advisory Board, particularly more members of the community. Though there was continued debate over the members of the Advisory Board, including a petition drive to protest a member who directs a pro-choice group, the school brought together a more diverse group and moved forward with its plan to find an effective sexuality education program.

The Advisory Board created its own curriculum and posted it on the school’s website for public input. The science facilitator for PSD explained, “The members of the Health Board believe it is very important to have public input on the entire curriculum….Over the next few months, the curriculum framework will be available to review in great detail, including goals and objectives for each lesson, activities, teacher resources, approved speakers, and student resources.”12 The Board of Education president said, “Although we are aware that it is impossible to produce a sex-education curriculum that will be universally accepted, we’re hopeful that this community feedback process will help us identify any remaining major issues before the formal ratification process begins.”13

The Advisory Board’s curriculum includes information on both abstinence and contraception and emphasizes abstinence as the only 100% effective method of prevention.

Colorado Supreme Court Finds School Voucher Program Unconstitutional
June 2004; Denver, CO
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in favor of the determination by the Colorado Parent Teacher Association and others that the state constitution clearly holds that local school districts should retain control over locally raised funds. A school voucher program, signed into law on April 16, 2003, proposed using public money to assist students in under-performing school districts by paying part or all of their tuition if they attended any number of private or religious schools that had been approved by the state board of education. The law was immediately challenged and was never allowed to take effect.

In October 2003, 82 private schools applied to the Denver Public Schools (DPS) to participate in the voucher program. Some of the applicants included the American Christian Academy of Englewood, which describes itself as “unashamedly Christian” with a “Bible-based curriculum free of humanism and new age philosophies.”14 Other schools, like Silver State Baptist of Lakewood, made it clear that students participating in premarital sex, homosexuality, or sexual perversion would be automatically dismissed.15 The law only allowed the DPS to turn down applicants for a short list of reasons, including failure to meet health or safety codes or financial instability. While DPS could have rejected the application of a school that was discriminating based on race or religion, it could not reject the application if the school was only discriminating based on sexual orientation.

The Colorado Supreme Court decision did not address the issue of providing government funding to schools that blatantly promote religion. Instead, the decision focused on how funding the program contradicted the school financial system set up in the state constitution.16 National Education Association (NEA) President Reg Weaver said of the decision, “If policymakers listen to teachers and parents they will discover that Americans, by overwhelming numbers, support investing in efforts to improve existing public schools rather than funding alternative systems, such as private-school tuition vouchers.”17

Colorado’s Youth: Statistical Information of Note18

  • In 2005, 37% of female high school students and 41% of male high school students in Colorado reported ever having had sexual intercourse compared to 46% of female high school students and 48% of male high school students nationwide.

  • In 2005, 2% of female high school students and 7% of male high school students in Colorado reported having had sexual intercourse before age 13 compared to 4% of female high school students and 9% of male high school students nationwide.

  • In 2005, 9% of female high school students and 14% of male high school students in Colorado reported having had four or more lifetime sexual partners compared to 12% of female high school students and 17% of male high school students nationwide.

  • In 2005, 29% of female high school students and 29% of male high school students in Colorado reported being currently sexually active (defined as having had sexual intercourse in the three months prior to the survey) compared to 35% of female high school students and 33% of male high school students nationwide.

  • In 2005, among those high school students who reported being currently sexually active, 60% of females and 79% of males in Colorado reported having used condoms the last time they had sexual intercourse compared to 56% of females and 70% of males nationwide.

  • In 2005, among those high school students who reported being currently sexually active, 22% of females and 10% of males in Colorado reported having used birth control pills the last time they had sexual intercourse compared to 21% of females and 15% of males nationwide.

  • In 2005, among those high school students who reported being currently sexually active, 22% of females and 31% of males in Colorado reported having used alcohol or drugs the last time they had sexual intercourse compared to 19% of females and 28% of males nationwide.

  • In 2005, 85% of high school students in Colorado reported having been taught about AIDS/HIV in school compared to 88% of high school students nationwide.

  • In 2000, Colorado’s abortion rate was 19 per 1,000 women ages 15–19 compared to a teen abortion rate of 24 per 1,000 nationwide.19

  • In 2004, Colorado’s birth rate was 44 per 1,000 women ages 15–19 compared to a teen birth rate of 41 per 1,000 nationwide.20

  • In 2001, Colorado’s rate of reported Chlamydia cases was 2,367 per 100,000 females ages 15–19 and 389 per 100,000 males ages 15–19.21

  • In 2001, Colorado’s rate of reported gonorrhea cases was 344.2 per 100,000 females ages 15–19 and 121.6 per 100,000 males ages 15–19.22

Title V Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding
Colorado received $488,314 in federal Title V funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in Fiscal Year 2006. The federal Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage grant requires states to provide three state-raised dollars or the equivalent in services for every four federal dollars received. The state match may be provided in part or in full by local groups. In Colorado the state match is provided by local sub-grantees, partners in the media campaign, and event partners. Many sub-grantees and partners provide more than the required match, often matching every federal dollar with one dollar in either funds or in-kind contributions.

Allocation of state funds is the responsibility of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in collaboration with the Office of the Governor.

The Colorado Abstinence Education Program’s (CAEP) goal is to reduce teen pregnancy rates, out-of-wedlock births, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among teens. The CAEP has developed a multimedia campaign that utilizes television commercials and an interactive website (www.saynoway.net). In addition to dating tips, resources for parents, and a “Dating Survival Guide” available for purchase, the website includes television commercials that are played throughout Colorado. The CAEP uses community meetings as a forum to receive feedback on the current year’s programming and input for the development of future strategies. The CAEP also funds locally based organizations serving youth in grades six through 12 and their families.

Title V abstinence-only-until marriage funding is allocated to eight community-based sub-grantees: Center Consolidated Schools, Durango Life Foundation, FACT Foundation, Friends First, Jim Elliot Schools, Pueblo Youth Project, Save Our Youth, and Weld County Health Department. The sub-grantees use three curricula: Choosing the Best, Friends First Quinceañera Program, and WAIT (Why Am I Tempted) Training.

SIECUS reviewed both Choosing the Best PATH (for junior high school students) and Choosing the Best LIFE (for high school students) and found that they name numerous physical and psychological consequences of premarital sexual activity, suggest that sexually active teens will never have happy futures, and imply that only teens with low self-esteem and poor judgment become sexually active. For example, Choosing the Best LIFE states that “relationships often lower the self-respect of both partners—one feeling used, the other feeling like the user. Emotional pain can cause a downward spiral leading to intense feelings of lack of worthlessness (sic).”23 Choosing the Best PATH says, “Sexual activity also can lead to the trashing of a person’s reputation, resulting in the loss of friends.”24

SIECUS reviewed WAIT Training and found that it contained little medical or biological information and almost no information about STDs, including HIV/AIDS. Instead, it contains information and statistics about marriage, many of which are outdated and not supported by scientific research. It also contains messages of fear and shame and biased views of gender, sexual orientation, and family type. For example, WAIT Training explains that “men sexually are like microwaves and women sexually are like crockpots…. A woman is stimulated more by touch and romantic words. She is far more attracted by a man’s personality while a man is stimulated by sight. A man is usually less discriminating about those to whom he is physically attracted.”25

One Title V sub-grantee, the Durango Life Center, is a crisis pregnancy center affiliated with the Family Life Center. 26 The “How Your School Can Help” section of the Family Life Center’s website says, “Schools can help by inviting the center to present topics of vital interest to their students. We have films on sexually transmitted diseases, on abstinence, and the Earn While You Learn curriculum for those who have found themselves with an unplanned pregnancy.” 27 No other information is available on the website regarding the organization’s abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. The Family Life Center’s website does, however, contain misinformation about abortion, numerous religious messages, scripture, and pictures of fetuses. In the “Free Gift of God” section, it asks:

Why do you need a Saviour? We all think that we have tried to be good people and that our minor sins do not deserve the anger and punishment of God. However, God is holy and does not overlook even one failure to obey His laws: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). Romans 3:23 says: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” which tells us that no one can escape the anger of God by avoiding sin or doing good things. 28

The FACT Foundation’s website encourages teens to take a quiz to determine whether they are in a “healthy dating relationship.” The quiz consists of 17 true-or-false questions including, “My future goals and plans are changing” and “I can’t stand to be away from my boyfriend/girlfriend.” At the end of the quiz, teens are advised, “If you answer “true” to any of these statements, chances are, your current relationship is not very healthy and you should seriously consider ending the relationship.”29
 
Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) and Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA) Grantees
There are five CBAE grantees in Colorado: Bethany Crisis Pregnancy Center, Friends First, Life Network, Pueblo Youth Project, and WAIT Training. There is one AFLA grantee: Colorado State University.

Life Network runs the “Education for a Lifetime” program which provides a number of services, including classroom-based instruction, parent education, peer mentoring for young people, and outreach to military families. 30 According to its website, “Life Network is a sanctity of human life ministry that impacts and transforms people with the love of Christ.” 31 In addition to running an abstinence-only-until-marriage program, Life Network also runs a crisis pregnancy center. Crisis pregnancy centers typically advertise as providing medical services and then use anti-abortion propaganda, misinformation, and fear and shame tactics to dissuade women facing unintended pregnancy from exercising their right to choose.

WAIT Training explains that abstinence-only until marriage programs teach that “behavioral restraints and fidelity increases human well-being and casual sex with multiple partners decreases well being.” 32 WAIT Training offers resources and advice to parents of youth. For example, on its website under “Parent FAQ,” WAIT Training advises parents, “Teens cannot wrap their concrete brains around abstract concepts. That is another reason we say wait until marriage rather than asking kids to wait to have sex until they are ready, mature, responsible, in love, self sufficient, even in a long-term committed monogamous relationship. All these word are abstract concepts. A wedding is a concrete concept with a date and an event.…” 33 WAIT Training also discourages masturbation, claiming that “as one gets used to self-pleasuring and also one looks at pornography to enhance this behavior, it can become addicting and something that causes relational problems.” 34  In the acknowledgements section of the WAIT Training manual, Joneen Krauth-Mackenzie, Executive Director of WAIT Training, thanks the Colorado Abstinence Education Program and its director “who kept me informed of the latest data and exhorted me to the highest standards of medical accuracy.”35 (See the Title V section for more information.)

Friends First, another CBAE grantee, offers a number of programs including The Quinceañera Program, an “abstinence education program for Hispanic girls ages 11–15 and their parents and family.” The Friends First website includes a question-and-answer section specifically for parents. One question asks: “What do I do about this aggressive teen-age girl who is ‘coming-on’ to my son?” The answer: “Many guys feel intense pressure from girls in their peer group. The girls mature faster and have false expectations and ideals about their sexuality from the culture, especially if a lack of parental communication and boundary setting exists in the home.” 36

Pueblo Youth Project offers abstinence-only-until-marriage programming for middle school students and conducts abstinence and character training for Hispanic girls preparing for their quinceañera, or fifteenth birthday celebration. As part of this program, the young women “voluntarily signed—in public—a pledge of abstinence until they marry….”37 Research has found that under certain conditions, such pledges, most commonly called virginity pledges, may help some adolescents delay sexual intercourse. When they work, pledges help this select group of adolescents delay the onset of sexual intercourse for an average of 18 months—far short of marriage. Researchers found that pledges only worked when taken by a small group of students. Pledges taken by a whole class were ineffective. More importantly, the studies also found that those young people who took a pledge were one-third less likely to use contraception when they did become sexually active than their peers who had not pledged. These teens are therefore more vulnerable to the risks of unprotected sexual activity, such as unintended pregnancy and STDs, including HIV/AIDS. Further research has confirmed that although some students who take pledges delay intercourse, ultimately they are just as likely to contract an STD as their non-pledging peers. The study also found that the STD rates were higher in communities where a significant proportion (over 20%) of the young people had taken virginity pledges. 38

Federal and State Funding for Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in FY 2006

Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Grantee
Length of Grant

 

Amount of Grant

Type of Grant (includes Title V, CBAE, AFLA, and other funds)

Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment

www.cdphe.state.co.us

$488,314 federal

Title V

Center Consolidated Schools
www.center.k12.co.us

$39,500

Title V sub-grantee

Durango Life Foundation
www.familylifecenter.org

$47,248

Title V sub-grantee

FACT Foundation
www.thefactfoundation.org 

$45,000

Title V sub-grantee

Friends First, Inc.

$65,000

Title V sub-grantee

DUAL GRANTEE
2003–2006
www.friendsfirst.org

$630,222

CBAE

Jim Elliot Schools
www.greatschools.net

$20,493

Title V sub-grantee

Pueblo Youth Project

DUAL GRANTEE
2003–2006

$65,000

$319,788

Title V sub-grantee

CBAE

Save Our Youth
www.saveouryouth.org

$46,580

Title V sub-grantee

Weld County Health Department
www.co.weld.co.us/departments/
health/publichealth.html

$65,000

Title V sub-grantee

Bethany Crisis Pregnancy Center
2003–2006

$631,873

CBAE

Life Network
2003–2006
www.elifenetwork.com

$631,873

CBAE

WAIT Training
2006–2011

$599,450

CBAE

Colorado State University- Cooperative Extension
2002–2007
www.welcome.colostate.edu

$225,000

AFLA

Title V Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Coordinator
Carla Adams
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
4300 Cherry Creek Dr. South
Denver, CO 80246  
Phone: (303) 692-2376

Colorado Organizations that Support Comprehensive Sexuality Education

ACLU of Colorado
400 Corona St.
Denver, CO 80218
Phone: (303) 777-5482
www.aclu-co.org

 

Colorado AIDS Project
2490 West 26th Ave.
Denver, CO 80211
Phone: (303) 837-0166
www.coloradoaidsproject.org

Colorado Organization on Adolescent, Pregnancy, Parenting, and Prevention
2785 North Speer Blvd., Suite 348
Denver, CO 80211
Phone: (303) 225-8870
www.coappp.org

 

Colorado Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Choice
P.O. Box 370414
Denver, CO 80237
Phone: (303) 756-9996
www.corcrc.org

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center of Colorado
1050 Broadway
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303) 733-7743
www.glbtcolorado.org

 

NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado            
1905 Sherman St., Suite 800
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303) 394-1973
www.prochoicecolorado.org

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains
950 Broadway
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303) 321-PLAN
www.pprm.org

 

       
Colorado Organizations that Oppose Comprehensive Sexuality Education

Colorado Right to Life Committee
2050 South Oneida St., Suite 116
Denver, CO 80224
Phone: (303) 753-9394
www.coloradorighttolife.org

 

Independence Institute
13952 Denver West Pkwy., Suite 400
Golden, CO 80401
Phone: (303) 279-6536
www.i2i.org

Rocky Mountain Family Council
8704 Yates Dr., Suite 205
Westminster, CO 80030
Phone: (303) 292-1800
www.rmfc.org

Youth for Christ
7670 South Vaughn Court
Englewood, CO 80112
Phone: (303) 843-9000
www.yfc.net

Newspapers in Colorado

Daily Camera
Amy Bonds
Education Writer
1048 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO 80302
Phone: (303) 473-1341

 

Daily Reporter-Herald
David Young
Medical/Health Reporter
201 E. 5th St.
Loveland, CO 80537
Phone: (970) 669-5050

Daily Sentinel
Kylene Kiang
Education Reporter
734 S. 7th St.
Grand Junction, CO 81501
Phone: (970) 256-4229

 

Daily Times-Call
Rob Spencer
City Editor
350 Terry St.
Longmont, CO 80501
Phone: (303) 684-5221

Daily Times-Call
Pam Mellskog
Health/Medicine Reporter
350 Terry St.
Longmont, CO 80501
Phone: (303) 684-5224

 

Denver Post
Lee Ann Colaciappo
Metro Editor
1560 Broadway
Denver, CO 80202
Phone: (303) 954-1754

Denver Post
Diane Carman
Columnist
1560 Broadway
Denver, CO 80202
Phone: (303) 954-1201

 

Fort Collins Coloradoan
Jason Coccina
Education Reporter
1300 Riverside Ave.
Fort Collins, CO 80524
Phone: (970) 493-6397

Gazette
Sue McMillan
City Editor
30 S. Prospect St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Phone: (719) 636-0251

 

Greeley Tribune
Chris Casey
Education Reporter
501 8th Ave.
Greeley, CO 80631
Phone: (970) 392-5623 ext. 11264

Pueblo Chieftain
Karen Vigil
Medical/Health Reporter
825 W. 6th St.
Pueblo, CO 81003
Phone: (719) 544-5897

 

Rocky Mountain News
Eric Brown
Deputy City Editor
400 W. Colfax Ave.
Denver, CO 80204
Phone: (303) 954-5261

Rocky Mountain News
Jim Erickson
Science Reporter
P.O. Box 719
Denver, CO 80201
Phone: (303) 954-5129

 

 

References

  1. This refers to the fiscal year for the federal government which begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, Fiscal Year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006. 
  2. ACLU of Colorado, “Settlement Resolves ACLU Lawsuit on Behalf of Palmer High School Gay-Straight Alliance Against Colorado Springs School District 11,” Press Release published 22 November 2005, accessed 2 March 2006,
    < http://www.aclu-co.org/news/pressrelease/release_gayalliancesettlement.htm>.
  3. “Palmer High School Protest,” Western Skies, 12 March 2005, accessed 12 April 2005,
    < http://westernskies.krcc.org/transcripts/3-12-2005/WS_3122005_A.html >.
  4. Laura Lambert, “Comprehensive Sex Education: Colorado Springs Dukes it Out,” Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., 14 April 2005, accessed 17 April 2006, <http://www.plannedparenthood.org/pp2/portal/files/portal/webzine/
    newspoliticsactivism/fean-050414-colorado-springs.xml    >.
  5. Ibid.
  6. Jessemyn Pekari, “Contraception: Colorado School Board Member Works to oust Contraception Education,” Abstinence Clearinghouse Email Update, 3 November 2004; Nina Sparano, “School District 11 Board Member Wants Planned Parenthood Out of Schools,” KRDO News 13, 1 November 2004, accessed 17 April 2006, <http://www.krdotv.com/DisplayStory.asp?id=8477>.
  7. “Colorado Springs School District Decides to Keep Sex Education,” News First 5/30, 13 January 2005, accessed 17 April 2006, < http://www.koaa.com’news/view.asp?ID=3088>.
  8. Dick Foster, “Planned Parenthood Keeps School Role,” Rocky Mountain News, 13 January 2005, 4A.
  9. Shari Chaney, “Christian’s Proposal’s Fail in D-11 Showdown,” Gazette, 13 January 2005, accessed 14 January 2005, <http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1305380>.
  10. Foster, “Planned Parenthood Keeps School Role.”
  11. Lambert, “Comprehensive Sex Education.”
  12. Health Curriculum Under Review, Poudre School District, accessed 7 January 2005, <http://www.psd.k12.co.us/psdinfo/newsevents/index.aspx?newseventid=1151&affid= >.
  13. Stacy Nick, “PSD Seeks Input on Sex Education,” Fort Collins Coloradan, 15 November 2004, accessed on Lexis-Nexis 7 January 2005.
  14. Nancy Mitchell and Robert Sanchez, “No Lack of Variety in Voucher Schools,” Rocky Mountain News, 16 October 2003.
  15. Ibid.
  16. Colorado Education Association, “Supreme Court Rejects State’s Voucher Plan,” Press Release published
    29 June 2004, accessed 14 January 2005, <http://www.coloradoea.org/whatsnew/june29voucher.cfm>.
  17. National Education Association “Colorado Supreme Court Strikes Down Voucher Law,” Press Release published June 2004, accessed 14 January 2005, <http://www.nea.org/vouchers/colosupremecourt.html>.
  18. Unless otherwise cited, all statistical information comes from Danice K. Eaton, et al., “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2005,” Surveillance Summaries, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 55, no. SS-5 (9 June 2006): 1-108, accessed 26 January 2007, <http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/index.htm>.
  19. U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics: Overall Trends, Trends by Race and Ethnicity and State-by-State Information (New York: The Guttmacher Institute, February 2004), accessed 26 January 2007, <http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf>.
  20. National Vital Statistics Reports 55.01 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, 2006), 10, accessed 26 January 2006, <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr55/nvsr55_01.pdf>.
  21. Ned Calonage, et al., Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Colorado Surveillance Report: 2001 (Denver, CO: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, August 2003), accessed 26 January 2007, <http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/dc/dcnew.asp>.
  22. Ibid.
  23. Bruce Cook, Choosing the Best LIFE (Marietta, GA: Choosing the Best Inc., 2000); Bruce Cook, Choosing the Best PATH (Marietta, GA: Choosing the Best Inc., 2000). For more information, see SIECUS’ reviews of Choosing the Best LIFE and Choosing the Best PATH at <http://www.communityactionkit.org/curricula_reviews.html>.
  24. Bruce Cook, Choosing the Best LIFE (Marietta, GA: Choosing the Best Inc., 2000); Bruce Cook, Choosing the Best PATH (Marietta, GA: Choosing the Best Inc., 2000). For more information, see SIECUS’ reviews of Choosing the Best LIFE and Choosing the Best PATH at <http://www.communityactionkit.org/curricula_reviews.html>.
  25. Joneen Krauth-Mackenzie, WAIT (Why Am I Tempted) Training, Second Edition (Greenwood Village, CO: WAIT Training, undated). For more information, see SIECUS’ review of WAIT Training at <http://www.communityactionkit.org/curricula_reviews.html>.
  26. Todd Thompson, “Abstinence-Only Campaign Seeks Local Funds,” The Durango Telegraph, 14 August 2004, accessed 30 January 2007, <http://www.durangotelegraph.com/04-08-19/cover_story.htm>. 
  27. “Volunteer,” Family Life Center, accessed 30 January 2007, <http://www.famlifecenter.org/volunteer.html>.
  28. “God’s Free Gift of Salvation,” Family Life Center, accessed 30 January 2007, <http://www.famlifecenter.org/freegift.html>.
  29. “Are You in a Healthy Dating Relationship?,” The Fact Foundation, (2005-2006), accessed 30 January 2007, <http://www.thefactfoundation.org/Teens.php>.
  30. Education for Lifetime, accessed 11 January 2007 <http://www.eflonline.org/index.cfm>.
  31. Life Network, accessed 11 January 2007 <http://www.elifenetwork.com/>.
  32. “About Us,” WAIT Training, accessed 30 January 2007, <http://www.waittraining.com/aboutus.asp>.
  33. “Parents FAQ,” WAIT Training, accessed 30 January 2007, <http://www.waittraining.com/parentfaqs.asp>.
  34. Ibid.
  35. Krauth-Mackenzie, unnumbered pages. 
  36. “FAQ,” Friends First, accessed 11 January 2007, <http://www.friendsfirst.org/faqs.asp>.
  37. Mary Jean Porter, “Childhood’s End: Quinceañera Classes Help Hispanic Girls Prep for Womanhood,” accessed 30 January 2007, <http://www.chieftain.com/life/1168502012/1>.
  38. Peter Bearman and Hannah Brückner, “Promising the Future: Virginity Pledges and the Transition to First Intercourse,” American Journal of Sociology 106.4 (2001): 859-912; Peter Bearman and Hannah Brückner, “After the Promise: The STD Consequences of Adolescent Virginity Pledges,” Journal of Adolescent Health 36.4 (2005): 271-278.

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