Representatives Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) will be joined tomorrowby pro-choice and pro-life religious and secular leaders as they introduce a piece of legislation called the Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act. This bill is the culmination of years of hard work and bridge-building and reflects input from both sides.

Family Research Council hasn't even seen the legislation yet (since it hasn't been introduced), and yet they're preemptively attacking it, making a host of false claims in the process.

FALSE CLAIM #1: "The Ryan bill also increases support for so-called 'emergency contraception'- better known as Plan B...The Ryan bill also would mandate that Plan B be distributed..."

THE FACTS: This legislation doesn't mandate distribution or funding of emergency contraception. The bill does not make any requirements concerning emergency contraception; states and individual clinics make these decisions with regard to the Medicaid and Title X programs, respectively.

FALSE CLAIM #2: "This misbegotten measure contains no funding for abstinence programs nor anything to encourage teens and young adults to refrain from risky sexual behavior."

THE FACTS: The legislation provides grants for pregnancy prevention comprehensive education programs that encourage teens to delay sexual activity, but also include age-appropriate and factually and medically accurate information about contraception, involve parents in teen pregnancy prevention programs, and encourage healthy relationships and responsible decision-making.

FALSE CLAIM #3: "...The bill also vastly increases funding for 'comprehensive sex-education' programs without any provision for parents to opt their children out of such programs."

THE FACTS: This bill does not mandate comprehensive sex education. It provides grants for comprehensive sex education programs that encourage teens to delay sexual activity and to make healthy decisions. Parent opt-out provisions are left to state and local policymakers-- and are often made even at the district level. Nothing in this bill would interfere with opt-outs already in place or in any way discourages them.

FALSE CLAIM #4: No pro-life groups support this legislation.

THE FACTS: Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Sojourners are both pro-life organizations that are supportive of this legislation. Additionally, approximately 20 pro-life leaders have offered statements of support for the bill, including megachurch pastors and other influential leaders such as Rev. Joel Hunter (Senior Pastor, Northland - A Church Distributed) and Rev. Samuel Rodriguez (President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference). Even the immediate past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Frank Page (Pastor, Taylors First Baptist Church, Taylors, SC) has issued a statement of tentative support.

FALSE CLAIM #5: "This proposal is fraught with funding for abortion providers and provisions that further encourage promiscuous sex and discourage parental involvement."

THE FACTS: The bill would increase support for programs that in fact encourage healthy relationships-- not promiscuity-- and encourage parental involvement. Grants would go to comprehensive education programs that encourage teens to delay sexual activity, provide information about contraception, educate teens on the responsibilities that come with parenthood, encourage family communication, and teach youth how to develop healthy relationships and make responsible decisions. Grants would also go to states that submit plans to decrease teen pregnancy that involveparents or other caretakers, include both young men and young women, and pay special attention to communities or populations experiencing higher teen pregnancy rates. The bill also includes the creation of a national initiative to enlist parents in preventing teen pregnancy, which would equip parents with information and resources to promote and strengthen communication with their children about sex, values, and healthy relationships; to develop and implement print, broadcast, internet and other new media campaigns to promote positive information and messages for parents about how they can help address teen pregnancy; and to provide challenge grants to states to promote parent education and involvement. Finally, the bill includes grants to prevent unplanned pregnancy among community college students by promoting healthy relationships.

FALSE CLAIM #6: "Since Planned Parenthood - the nation's largest and most profitable abortion provider - is funded under the Ryan measure, inevitably the group will use the funds it receives to encourage the very procedure the bill says it wants to make more rare."

THE FACTS: Because this bill focuses on prevention of unintended pregnancies and support for women and families, Planned Parenthood will be eligible for grants since they do provide basic and preventive health care to women across the country. As Jodi Jacobson of RH Reality Check has pointed out, "More than 90 percent of the care provided by Planned Parenthood community health centers daily includes wellness exams, cancer screenings, immunizations, contraception and STD testing and treatment. For millions of women, Planned Parenthood is the only or the primary provider of health care accessible to them economically and geographically, and a critical entree to other health care services." It's also important to realize that Planned Parenthood is not the sole recipient of Title X funds-- in fact, only 11 percent of the Title X grantees in 2007 were Planned Parenthood affiliates-- and only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood Federation of America's health services are actually abortion services. Also, Title X regulations and the Hyde Amendment prevent federal funding from going to the provision of abortion services.