Healthy Relationships Act of 2015

Healthy Relationships Act of 2015

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Health Resources and Services Administration to award grants for qualified sexual risk avoidance education for youth and their parents.

The unambiguous message that postponing sexual activity is the optimal sexual health behavior for youth must be the primary emphasis and context for each topic covered by the education. The education must be age appropriate, medically accurate, and evidence based.

The education must address specified topics, including:

• the benefits associated with personal responsibility, success sequencing (sequential progression through: completing school, securing a job, and marrying before bearing children), goal setting, healthy decision making, and a focus on the future;
• the research-based advantage of reserving sexual activity for marriage;
• the skills needed to resist the pervasive, sex-saturated culture;
• the foundational components of healthy relationships; and
• how to avoid sexual coercion, dating violence, and risk behaviors, such as drugs, alcohol, and the misuse of social media.

Priority in awarding grants must be given to programs serving youth in middle school and high school that will promote parent-child communication regarding healthy sexual decision making.