Over the past three years, many states across the United States have begun to start changing curriculums, and that includes censorship. They have begun censoring topics that span across topics such as race, gender, American History, and sexual identity, according to The American Academy of Pediatrics. Almost every single state in the past year has at least a law, proposed bill, or state policy brought up to change classroom settings.
Sexual health education across the United States is inconsistent and inadequate in providing the correct information in sexual education. There is no base curriculum for sexual education in the United States; therefore, many of the states differ in what they teach and how much they are willing to teach. Because of this overall lack of education, the United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates out of all developed countries, according to the CDC.
Teenage pregnancy is shown to be at the highest in states with the most relaxed sexual education curriculum. In states such as Alabama and Florida, there are plans to teach abstinence-only sex education, according to Planned Parenthood Action fund. Some states, such as Mississippi, will teach abstinence plus education, which will also promote the use of contraceptives, if one does not wish to pursue abstinence. However, if Mississippi does not renew its current sex education mandate, expiring this year, there will be no more requirement to teach sex education, according to Sex Education Collaborative. There will also not be any restriction on the type of sex ed curriculum that can be taught, according to Reckon.
“I’ve seen it in the past, our pregnancy rates in school were way higher than what I’ve ever experienced in Colorado,” Jonathan Hebel, a biology teacher at DRHS said in response to a spike in teenage pregnancy in states that regulate their sexual education more strictly. “I don’t see that (sex education) should be controversial in any way.”
In 2024, over 135 bills were proposed concerning sexual education, according to CNN. The impact of these bills is largely restrictive.
“I don’t think there’s anything more important than people understanding the way their bodies work,” Hebel said.
Comprehensive sexual education is a critical component of sexual and reproductive healthcare across the world, and developing a healthy sexuality is a core developmental milestone for children and adolescents. Teaching about abstinence, but not about contraceptives, results in a higher level of teenage pregnancy. Teenagers need to understand about themselves developmentally and how that development relates to them, their communities, culture, and mental health.
