Students, educators, and health care providers call on lawmakers to pass the Healthy Youth Act 

BOSTON – Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts (PPLM) educators, health care providers, and high school students from PPLM’s Get Real Teen Council, a peer sexual health education program, testified at the State House today in support of the Healthy Youth Act. The legislation, S.268/H.544, would ensure that:

(1) Sex and relationship education taught in Massachusetts public schools uses medically accurate, age appropriate, LGBTQ+ inclusive curricula, 

(2) Require the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to collect data on where and how sex education is taught in public schools, and

(3) Require DESE to review and update the framework at least every ten years to ensure the sex education guidelines remain comprehensive and are meeting the needs of students. 

“As a reproductive health care provider, it’s disheartening that so many young people have a general misunderstanding about their own physiology, especially when they are seeking birth control, or are already pregnant and considering their options,” said Rachel Kean, a registered nurse at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. “In conversations I have with younger patients, it is often clear that they are getting their information solely from social media, which can be dangerously inaccurate. We know young people are going to use social media, but if they had fact-based, medically accurate sex education in school, they would be better prepared to spot misinformation online and make well-informed decisions about their health.”  

"PPLM recently conducted a national analysis of sex education in the United States, scoring all 50 states on policies that support or restrict access to comprehensive sex education, racial equity, abortion, and LGBTQ+ rights. Because we have no codified standards for sex ed to be medically accurate, age appropriate, or inclusive – Massachusetts scored a zero, putting us in the company of states with some of the most restrictive laws against these critical issues,” said Jennifer Hart, Vice President of Education, Learning, and Engagement at PPLM. "Voting the Healthy Youth Act into law would codify and strengthen the impact of the new DESE framework by making it a requirement that public schools opting to teach sex education select a curriculum that meets these comprehensive standards. Passing the Healthy Youth Act, along with DESE’s updated guidelines, would move Massachusetts’ sex ed score from 0 to 4, putting us at the forefront of the country with Colorado, the only other state with the highest sex ed score.” 

"The recently adopted DESE health education frameworks center inclusive, comprehensive sex education, but without the Healthy Youth Act, schools could ignore them. We do not want to risk our LGBTQ+ youth being left out, shamed, bullied, or invalidated in classrooms and conversations about sexuality, gender, or relationships. Our young people deserve our commitment to inclusion, validation, and affirmation,” said Mike MacGillivray, educator at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. 

"Students come to sex ed classes ready with questions, frequently more questions that we have time to answer in a class period. Not offering comprehensive, inclusive, accurate sex education does not protect young folks from thinking about sex, it merely denies them the space to get the information they need and to ask the questions they already have,” said Rachel Davis, educator at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. 

"Having the knowledge about what healthy relationships look like and how to properly protect yourself and your partner is important for people my age. It will change the knowledge, and empower everyone who is in a physical, or non-physical, relationship." - Emmanuella-Dorothy M., a Worcester high school student and member of PPLM’s Get Real Teen Council peer sex education program. 

For more information about the Healthy Youth Act, visit www.healthyyouthact.org