WHEREAS: Today’s youth have witnessed the negative health consequences of sexual experimentation at an early age, including staggering rates of teenage pregnancies, teenagers infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and teenage abortions; and

WHEREAS: Youth respond to positive peer pressure as well as negative peer pressure; and

WHEREAS: Public officials must take the lead in promoting healthy lifestyles for youth; and

WHEREAS: Abstinence is 100% effective, 100% of the time, in preventing out-of-wedlock births and STDs; and

WHEREAS: Abstinence is free and has no harmful side effects; and

WHEREAS: Young people, like everyone else, want to stay healthy and reasonably happy. They also want the freedom to choose their own futures and not to pay a hard price later for decisions made at an early age; and

WHEREAS: Many of the youth in the United States desire to make a public statement to show their enthusiasm and support for abstinence; and

WHEREAS: The Day of Purity offers the youth an opportunity to express their support for sexual purity in mind and actions.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT I, ________________
___________________________ [title and name], do hereby proclaim Monday, February 14, 2005 as the Day of Purity in the [city/county], and shall be instituted in an effort to restore healthy communities and raise the awareness of abstinence.