Sex education is important for the health and safety of our community. Students that learned comprehensive sex education feel more empowered, informed, make safer choices, result in fewer unplanned pregnancies and more protection against sexually transmitted diseases and infections. However, only 24 states and the District of Columbia require sex education to be taught in high school, and only 34 states mandate HIV education. Fewer than half of high schools and one fifth of middle schools teach all 16 topics recommended by the CDC as essential components of sex education. Between 43 to 57% of adolescences are not educated about birth control before they have sex for the first time. Formal sex education is rapidly declining as anti-comprehensive sex education groups, like Stop CSE, are rapidly expanding.
Abstinence-only education is harmful because it teaches teens to abstain from sex until marriage and does not provide information on birth control and safe sex practices. Congress has spent $2 billion on abstinence-only programs between 1982-2017, and currently spends $85 million a year to fund abstinence-only programs. Abstinence-only education curricula do not lower adolescent birthrates and have shown higher instances of adolescent pregnancies. Around 57% of teenagers are sexually active and it is important for them to learn safe sex practice.
In the state of New Hampshire, schools are only required to teach STDs (including HIV/AIDS prevention), healthy relationships, growth and development, pregnancy prevention and school districts can decide what to further provide. Schools in New Hampshire do not have comprehensive sex education, and are not required to be medically accurate or required to teach about contraception or consent. Some New Hampshire sex education curriculum fails to be culturally competent and excludes representation or resources for LGBTQ+ and the disability community. There are other barriers to sex education for students. In 2017 HB 103 was adopted which requires schools to notify parents two weeks before the sex education curriculum is taught. This“opt-out” policy allows parents to remove their children from the program. New Hampshire not only needs to adopt a more comprehensive sex education program, but also to repeal HB 103. Adolescents should be empowered with medically accurate, timely information to make smart, healthy choices.
I believe New Hampshire should include all 16 components of the CDC’s critical topics to include in High School Sex Education. For sex education curriculums to be truly comprehensive, New Hampshire’s education system must include culturally competent material, and must educate about sex for the LGBTQ+ and disability communities. Research also shows a lack of access to sex education material in multiple languages. Everyone deserves access to sex education regardless of their background, which includes a culturally competent program that fits the needs of the class for immigrant and non-English speaking students. Having resources for educational materials for all languages and representations for a variety of cultures, greatly benefits both non-English speaking and bilingual students, and has shown to decrease the teen pregnancy rate beyond these communities. Marginalized communities are most impacted by a lack of access to birth control or other resources, and is important for the sex education curriculum to include educating on how teens can find accessible resources for everyone, regardless of their socio-economic background. Outside resources are critical in addition to the classroom curriculum. Adult workshops for parents should be offered by the community so parents are equipped to answer their children’s questions related to sex education. Some sex-related topics can be hard to talk about with adults and peer education networks should be offered to students as well.
Comprehensive sex education must include positive LGBTQ+ representation, safe sex practices for queer youth, education on all gender identities and sexual orientations, and education on sexual and romantic queer relationships. Sex education should also dispel harmful myths around sex in LGBTQ+ community, provide outside resources for LGBTQ+ students and implement peer education networks. Research shows that, fewer than 5% of LGBTQ+ students received positive LGBTQ+ representation in their health class and only 12% of students were taught about same-sex relationships in their sex education classes. LGBTQ+ students have an equal right to medically accurate sex education that addresses their gender identities and sexual orientation.
Youth with disabilities (YWD) are another group often overlooked in the sex education curriculum. Thirty-six states fail to include youth with disabilities in their sex education curriculum requirements, or provide resources to accessible sex education. Less than half of schools provide professional development training to help sex instructors educate youth with disabilities. School-based sex education is one of a few sources that youth with disabilities have access to for reliable sexual health information. Comprehensive sex education must include positive representation of youth with disabilities, education on consent, accessible material for all abilities, and resources for them must be included in a comprehensive sex education curriculum. Other policy recommendations from SIECU include training about YWD for sex educators, sex therapists, sexual assault prevention staff, and sexual assault response teams (e.g., nurses). Resources such as peer network programs and grant programs for accessible materials such as E-readers, material in braille, etc. need to be available for all schools.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) believes in advocating for comprehensive sex education and helps schools create comprehensive and medically accurate sex education curriculums and policies. PPNNE offers age-appropriate, medically accurate comprehensive sex education programs and services. Planned Parenthood offers a school-based curriculum called “Get Real” and provides sex education training to professionals and contraceptive kits to classes. Planned Parenthood also offers community education programs in Community education in recovery centers, transitional houses, schools, prisons, community centers. Visit ppnne.org for more information.
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