The absurdity of abstinence-only "education" and I do use the term education loosely, confounds me. It's so blatantly anti-girl.

The logic is so extremely flawed. The practice is entirely ineffective in preventing big social problems like teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

From the girl's perspective, and I do believe girls should have inalienable rights just like any other citizen of this country, they have a right to know the biological facts of their body.

I understand the argument that parents want to tell their children to not have sex. I'm all for that right. It's a good thing to encourage girls not to participate in sexual activity. But, parents aren't the ones paying the consequences are they?

To leave girls uninformed about the consequences of sex is neglectful to the extreme.

If a girl is old enough to pay the consequences of pre-marital sex - and she's old enough for that as soon as her period, which occurs between 9 and 14-years-old then she is old enough to understand how her reproductive system works.

If we educate girls about their bodies they will be better able to decide not to have sex. Accurate information results in sexual and reproductive responsibility.

*Girls a right to know exactly how sexually transmitted diseases are spread.

*Girls have a right to know exactly how babies are and are not conceived.

*Girls have a right to a basic understanding of their own biological reproductive systems.

*Girls have a right to understand their fertility.

*Girls have a right to understand the function of their breasts.

*Girls have a right to understand their monthly periods.

To withhold biological information about the reproductive system is to encourage teen pregnancy and spread of communicable disease and misinformation supplied by teen boys and sexual predators. Withholding reproductive information also results in women not understanding the biology of fertility which leads to lots of heartbreak when they find out they've waited too long to conceive naturally.

Babies and STDs are not a consequence of sex in this millennium. Babies and STDs are a consequence of girls and women being uneducated and misinformed about their own bodies.

Take two minutes right now to be an activist for girls' health by sending a letter to your representatives supporting Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Christopher Shays (R-CT), along with Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), introduced the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act (H.R. 1653/S. 972). It's a bill that promotes abstinence - and abstinence really is a great thing to promote - but also supplies medically accurate biological information about the reproductive system.

Thanks to the American Association of University Women for supplying this easy letter which encourages our leaders to pass girl-empowering legislation.