Students deserve sex education programs that provide the information and skills necessary to make informed, responsible, and healthy decisions to reduce unintended pregnancy, partner-on-partner violence, STIs and HIV. Sex education in publicly funded schools must be medically accurate and free from religious influence. Abstinence-only sex education is religiously motivated and ineffective. Eighty-eight percent of students break their abstinence pledges. Two-thirds of high school students have had sex.
Comprehensive sex education leads to a measurable reduction in early sex, unprotected sex, and number of sexual partners.
Abstinence-only programs lead to no measurable reductions in early sex or number of sex partners, and lead to a measurable increase in unprotected sex. American youth deserve medically sound sex education programs that address their needs.
POLICY RECOMMENDATION: All students should receive non-biased, medically accurate sex education through programs that give them the tools to make informed decisions concerning their sexual and reproductive health irrespective of their religious affiliation.
