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PHILADELPHIA, PA -- January 25 -- Looking for the right chastity belt? NARAL Pro-Choice America and NARAL Pro-Choice Pennsylvania say the best outlet is in Harrisburg, PA. Pointing to Pennsylvania’s “Chastity Awareness Week,” NARAL Pro-Choice America and NARAL Pro-Choice Pennsylvania have launched www.GiveUsRealChoices.org, a campaign that calls on the Pennsylvania State Legislature to provide legitimate sexual and reproductive health programming, including comprehensive, age appropriate sex education, access to emergency contraception for survivors of rape, and insurance coverage for birth control. The highlight of the campaign? Activists can log on to www.GiveUsRealChoices.org to petition their State Legislators for a chastity belt! According to Carrie Rae, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Pennsylvania, “We are launching this campaign to tap a new generation of activists tired of seeing their tax dollars spent on discredited “abstinence-only-until-marriage” programming. Pennsylvanians want real choices and real solutions to today’s reproductive health problems, not the modern equivalent of a chastity belt.” Embracing abstinence-only-until-marriage programming, the Pennsylvania State Legislature has passed resolutions recognizing Chastity Awareness Week since 1999 and has channeled almost $6 million in federal funds to schools, health facilities, and anti-choice organizations across the state despite reports showing that these programs result in higher teen pregnancy rates and higher transmission rates of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. “The symbolism of the chastity belt is perfect,” noted Rae. “The idea that women are the property of their husbands belongs in the dark ages. The Pennsylvania State Legislature commemorated Chastity Awareness Week last year with a unanimous vote—let’s see them get that excited about real choices!” “My customers aren’t just buzzing about the coffee,” said Jill Fink, owner of Mugshots CoffeeHouse & JuiceBar. “There’s a palpable feeling that the religious right’s restrictive society has no place in Pennsylvania. About 1,300 Philadelphians were diagnosed with AIDS last year, and the only option we get to stop this plague is to hold our breath. Why bother displaying the Liberty Bell if it doesn’t ring true?” “Pennsylvanians trust their state legislature to make real laws protecting their health and freedom, and the best that Harrisburg has done thus far is the nonsense of Chastity Awareness Week,” said Michael J. Patterson, President of Penn ACLU and Vice President of Penn for Choice. “Ensuring that students in college have the most options in preventing pregnancy, not to mention STD’s, would be something real that our State Representatives could be proud of.”
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