Today is National Sex Ed Call-In Day

We've been building momentum for sexuality education during October, National Sex Ed Month. Today, we're asking you to join us for the National Sex Ed Call-In Day to tell Illinois Senators Roland Burris and Dick Durbin -- who have supported sexuality education in the past -- to remove abstinence-only funding from the Senate health care reform bill.

The Senate Finance Committee recently approved an amendment, proposed by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), to restore $50 million per year for the failed Title V program, a funding stream for rigid and ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. The Hatch Amendment passed by a thin margin of 12-11.

We want to keep the pressure on Congress to strike the Hatch Amendment and fund responsible sexuality education. Please take action today by calling and tweeting your senators!

Call your senators

Call 1-888-423-5983, where you will be connected to the Capitol Switchboard. Once you’re connected, tell them what state you’re calling from and ask to speak to one of your two senators. Please make two phone calls—one to each of your senators’ offices. Here is a script you can use:

Hi. My name is ___. May I please speak with the senator’s lead aide on health? I am calling to talk about stripping the Hatch Amendment for abstinence-only funding from the health care reform bill.

(You will be transferred to the right person in the office or sent to their voicemail.)

Hi. My name is ___ and I am calling from _(City, State)_. The Senate Finance Committee recently passed the Hatch Amendment with health care reform, reinstating $50 million in funding for failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. We need to ensure Congress only funds responsible approaches to sexuality education. As a constituent of Senator Burris/Durbin, I want to thank the senator for his past support of sexuality education and to urge the senator to work to strip the Hatch abstinence-only amendment from the final health care reform bill.

Tweet your senators

Send tweets directly to Senators Burris (@rolandwburris) and Durbin (@dickburbin). We're also interested in targeting the following senators who will influence whether or not the Hatch Amendment is removed:

Harry Reid (D-NV) @senatorreid


Chris Dodd (D-CT) @senchrisdodd


Tom Harkin (D-IA) @tomharkin

Check out our Twitter feed at twitter.com/ICAH or see below for example messages. Be sure to add hashtags #sexedcallinday and #ilsexed to all your tweets so we can track all the messages!

• @rolandwburris The abstinence-only experiment has failed. Please remove Hatch Amendment from #hcr09 bill. #sexedcallinday #ilsexed
• @dickburbin Sex ed is preventative #healthcare. Please strike down Hatch Amendment to keep ab-only out. #sexedcallinday #ilsexed
• @rolandwburris 1 in 4 young women in US has an STI. We need comp sex ed. Please strike down Hatch Amendment. #sexedcallinday #ilsexed
• @dickburbin Illinois' youth deserve the truth. Please remove Hatch Amendment and keep ab-only out of #hrc. #sexedcallinday #ilsexed

You can check out this toolkit created by our partners at Choice USA for more information, talking points, and example tweets.

Thank you for taking action in support of responsible sexuality education!