State lawmakers are pushing to implement a city teen health agenda in light of statistics that reveal central Brooklyn has the highest rate of oral gonorrhea in the country.
Lawmakers said the goal of the program is to protect young people from disease and unintended pregnancies. It calls for age-appropriate and medically accurate sex education programs in grades one through 12.
Legislators and youth groups will launch a petition to get Gov. Eliot Spitzer to approve the program. They say it is necessary to combat teen health problems.
State lawmakers say the New York State Department of Health rejected $3.5 million in federal funds. The money would have been used for abstinence-only programs.