NCAC continues to be deeply concerned about public-funded sexuality education programs that restrict student's access to information and limit learning to one "approved" message about sexuality. The result of such programs is widespread censorship of material on contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual orientation. However, the new administration as well as local efforts have led to some positive changes in the sex education landscape.
Particularly important was President Obama's move to shift the focus of sex education classes. President Obama cut funding for abstinence-only education programs and reallocated that money for teen pregnancy prevention programs. However, some of that reallocated money may still be open to abstinence only programs.
Also some students have joined together to fight for better sex education in their local schools. For example, in Alaska, where sex education is usually up to the local school districts, students have been pushing for more safe sex information.
NCAC continues to be deeply concerned about public-funded sexuality education programs that restrict student's access to information and limit learning to one "approved" message about sexuality. The result of such programs is widespread censorship of material on contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual orientation. However, the new administration as well as local efforts have led to some positive changes in the sex education landscape.
On the flip side schools are continuallycoming under fire for providing certain kinds of sex education to their students. For example, a high school in New York was in the news for providing students with confidential STD and pregnancy testing. These sorts of programs may be controversial, but at least they are providing access to information and not restricting viewpoints – precisely the type of censorship the First Amendment was created to protect against.
These efforts are supported by recent data that shows that abstinence only education may have negative effects. A recent report from the Guttmacher Institute shows that teen pregnancy rates have increased after years of decline. "This decline started to stall out in the early 2000s, at the same time that sex education programs aimed exclusively at promoting abstinence-and prohibited by law from discussing the benefits of contraception-became increasingly widespread and teens' use of contraceptives declined," the report states.
But see: 'Abstinence-only programs might work, study says' and a response.
For more information, visit /issue/sex-education/.