Receipt of formal sex education has been found to correlate with important factors, such as age, income, race, location, and background. While sex education is taught at nearly every high school in the United States, local beliefs and practices regarding sex heavily influence the way that sex education is taught. In general, teaching some form of sex education is widely supported by the American public, but beliefs on whether or not sex should be only between married people can dictate if local schools teach abstinence only education, or if they include lessons about contraceptives and STI prevention. States in the Southern and Midwestern parts of the United States are likely to believe that sex should only happen within a marriage. They are also the states with the highest percentage of schools teaching abstinence-only sex education. This leads to reduced odds of education on a wide variety of topics and methods for students in those areas that teach abstinence-only education. The Western and Northeastern parts of the United States are likely to include lessons about various methods of engaging in sexual activity and using contraceptives and/or STI prevention tools. States in the Midwest, South, and West are more likely than schools in the Northeast to teach about the ineffectiveness of non-natural birth control methods or just not cover them at all. Despite these differences, most of the United States favors stressing abstinence, via abstinence-only or the abstinence best approach. However, community and regional views on premarital sex are ultimately reflected in whether or not, and to what degree, the methods of practicing safe sex are additionally taught to students. Some varied regional examples are provided below.
Virginia Virginia uses the sex education program called the National Campaign to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy. The National Campaign was created in 1996 and focuses on preventing teen and unplanned pregnancies of young adults. The National Campaign set a goal to reduce the teen pregnancy rate by in ten years. The Virginia Department of Health ranked Virginia 19th in teen pregnancy birth rates in 1996. Virginia was also rated 35.2 teen births per 1,000 girls aged 15–19 in 2006. The Healthy people 2010 goal is a teen pregnancy rate at or below 43 pregnancies per 1,000 females age 15–17.
Mississippi Sex education in Mississippi public schools was first introduced in 2011, with the requirement that schools teach "abstinence-only" or "abstinence-plus" curriculum. This law had additional requirements, such as the separation of boys and girls for instruction and not allowing instructors to physically demonstrate contraceptive use, such as condoms. This law was updated as of July 1, 2021. The state's Department of Education announced they would now mandate curricula to be "culturally proficient, evidence-based, medically accurate, and age-appropriate for middle and high school students". This was the first time such inclusive measures would be included. However, sex education is still not compulsory, both due to district decisions and individual parents through an "opt-in policy". Due to how religious and conservative the state is, advocates for comprehensive sex education often use the state of Mississippi as an example of the negative consequences and failures of abstinence-only education.
Tennessee Tennessee has no mandatory sexual education curriculum in place, leaving individual school districts to oversee their own sex ed curricula if it is chosen to be taught. Many of those school districts have relied heavily on abstinence-led curricula. Tennessee schools have created a mandatory family life education program if females ages 15–17 have pregnancy rates higher than 19.5 per every 1000 depending on the county. In 2012, state legislature advanced Senate Bill 3310, otherwise known as the "Gateway Law," to enforce abstinence only sexual education and limit the information given to students by educators that encourage sexual activities with penalties of $500 if done. More recently, in 2017, state legislature passed Senate Bill 1510 In such courses, students learn about monogamy, heterosexual marriages, and abstinence until marriage. Though courses are taught, parents and guardians are able to opt-out of allowing students to learn with written communication and consent given to their school. Several house bills were proposed to onset the Florida Healthy Adolescent Act where schools were required to introduce students to comprehensive and medically accurate health information that was age appropriate about sexuality, healthy relationships, and contraception. The Senate vetoed the bills to pass the act.
Texas Sex education in
Texas became a policy of renewed focus in 2024. With the rise of recent protests and proposed bills in the Texas House, the current policy has been the focus of much scrutiny. As of 1997, when Senate Bill 1 was enacted, Texas has left the decision of inclusion of sex education classes within schools up to the individual districts. The school board members are entitled to approve all curricula that are taught; however, the bill has certain criteria that a school must abide by when choosing to teach sex ed. These include: • present abstinence from sexual activity as the preferred choice of behavior in relationship to all sexual activity for unmarried persons of school age; • devote more attention to abstinence from sexual activity than to any other behavior; • emphasize that abstinence from sexual activity, if used consistently and correctly, is the only method that is 100 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and the emotional trauma associated with adolescent sexual activity; • direct adolescents to a standard of behavior in which abstinence from sexual activity before marriage is the most effective way to prevent pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and infection with HIV or AIDS; and • teach contraception and condom use in terms of real-world failure rates, not statistics based on laboratory rates, if instruction on contraception and condoms is included in curriculum content. Additionally, school districts are not authorized to distribute condoms in connection with instruction relating to human sexuality. Since the enactment of this policy, several research studies have been done to evaluate the Sex Ed Policy, namely the
abstinence-only aspect of the teaching. Drs. David Wiley and Kelly Wilson published the ''Just Say Don't Know: Sexuality Education in Texas Public Schools'' report where they found that: • Shaming and fear-based instruction are commonly used for teaching sex ed • Gender stereotypes are promoted • A majority of students receive no information about human sexuality except abstinence • The materials used regularly contain factual errors and distort the truth about condoms and STDs According to Texas State Representative Mike Villarreal, "We have a responsibility to ensure that our children receive accurate information in the classroom, particularly when students' health is at stake," Villarreal said. "We're dealing with a myriad of problems in Texas as a result of our sky high teen pregnancy rates. We cannot allow our schools to provide erroneous information—the stakes are far too high." With this in mind, many state legislators have proposed bills to improve sex education in Texas Schools. • SB 852/HB 1624 – In Feb 2011, Senator Ellis proposed The Education Works bill. This bill would require schools that teach sex education to provide evidence-based, age-appropriate information that emphasizes the importance of abstinence as the only 100% effective method of avoiding sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and pregnancy, while also teaching about contraceptive methods to avoid STIs and pregnancy. • HB 741/SB 515 – In 2011, Representatives
Joaquin Castro and Mike Villarreal introduced a bill calling for abstinence-plus sexual health education bill. The bill would have medically accurate information, including: abstinence, contraception, and what it really takes to be a parent. The bill received a hearing but was left in committee. • HB 1567/ SB 1076 – Introduced in 2009 by Villarreal, this bill would have required instruction on contraceptive use to be scientifically accurate when it is taught as part of a school's sexual health curriculum. It did not receive a hearing. Scientific evidence accumulated over many decades demonstrates that the abstinence-only-until-married (AOUM) curriculum taught in Texas schools is harmful and ineffective in reducing the adolescent pregnancy rate in Texas. Despite these facts, recently published in the
Journal of Adolescent Health, AOUM programs continue to be funded by the U.S. government. In fact, the U.S. government has spent more than $2 billion over the last 20 years to prohibit comprehensive sex education in public schools, choosing instead to fund the AOUM curriculum while the adolescent pregnancy rates continue to rise. Catholic schools in Texas follow Catholic Church teachings in regard to sex education. Some opponents of sex education in Catholic schools believe sex ed programs are doing more harm to the young than good. Opponents of sex education contend that children are not mentally and emotionally ready for this type of instruction, and believe that exposing the young to sex ed programs may foster the students with the preoccupation of sex. The Catholic Church believes that parents are the first educators and should rightfully fight for their duty as such in regard to sex education: •
Humanae Vitae teaches that the faithful must form their 'consciences' as a guide to Christ-like decision making in regard to sex education. • the young should not engage in premarital sex,
adultery,
fornication or other acts of impurity or scandals to others • Pope John Paul II says that sex education is "a basic right and duty of parents."
General policies As of July 1, 2022: • 26 states mandate both sex education and HIV education be provided. • 2 states only mandate sex education. • 11 states only mandate HIV education. • 39 states (and the
District of Columbia) mandate that sex and/or HIV education be provided. • In Tennessee sex education becomes mandated if the pregnancy rate for young women, ranging from ages 15–17, is equal to or higher than 19.5. • 17 states require that, when provided, sex education be medically accurate. • California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington • 4 states ban the promotion of religion in sex education. • California, Louisiana, Colorado, Illinois • 10 states require that sex education cannot be biased against any race or ethnicity, and must be culturally appropriate and pertinent to the students' background. • California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington • 26 states (and the District of Columbia) require that age-appropriate information is provided in the sex education curriculum. • Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, New York, Pennsylvania. • 20 states (and the District of Columbia) require that, when provided, sex education must include information on contraception. • Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia. • 14 states require that, when provided, sex education covers sexual orientation in either an inclusive or negative way. • 11 states (and the District of Columbia) require an inclusive perspective on sexual orientation be given. • California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington • 4 states require that only negative information on sexual orientation be presented. • Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas
Abstinence education , 17 states provide abstinence-only sex education. As of July 1, 2022: and Black and Hispanic people have higher rates of unintended pregnancy than White people. Barriers to sexual health care may include cost, access, healthcare provider bias, and low health literacy, as well as access to sex education (both in receipt and timing). There exist widespread racial, gender and sexual minority status disparities in sexual education. Differing exposure to the information and skills necessary to maintain sexual health, as would be provided in broad-based comprehensive sexual education, may also be a contributing factor to inequities in sexual health outcomes. A recent study demonstrated that young Black and Hispanic men were less likely than young White men to receive instruction on key sexual health topics including HIV/STIs and contraception, both at all and before the first sexual experience. leaving youth of color at a greater risk for poor sexual health. Disparities also exist by sexual behavior or orientation. Young men who have sex with men are less likely to receive instruction about STIs or HIV/AIDS, despite the disproportionate burden of STIs on this group. Importantly, sex education generally "centers heterosexual relationships, excluding or pathologizing queer identities and behaviors."
Influence of wealth on sex education Teens from non-white, low-income families are more likely to receive abstinence-only sex education, according to the National Survey of Family and Growth. Teens with intact families are also more likely to receive
comprehensive sex education than those living with a single parent. Disadvantaged youth are the shown to be the least likely social strata to benefit from formal sex education programs. ==See also==