Right now,
sex education in the U.S. is a tale of two teenagers.
The first is Tatiana in Los Angeles. She knows all about her
birth control options. In fact, she can consult with a Planned Parenthood educator about the IUD versus the pill between math and history class.
The other is Hannah in Arizona. She wants to learn more about
sex and
consent, but is too nervous to ask her mom. Tatiana was educated on consent while Hannah, due to abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, is too scared to even talk about sex.
Most young people don't get the sex education they deserve. Programming varies widely across the U.S. Although many states have some guidance on whether and how sex education should be taught, decisions are often left up to individual school districts. In fact, fewer than half of high schools and only one in five middle schools in the U.S. teach all 16 topics recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as essential components of sex education.
Los Angeles is one place that's demonstrating how we can do better. Thanks to a new and first-of-its-kind collaboration between Planned Parenthood Los Angeles and Los Angeles County government, thousands of students will have access to sex education and health care services at school. The partnership will open 50 Wellbeing Centers in L.A. high schools to provide
STI testing,
emergency contraception, and other sexual health services, education, and support.
While L.A. is raising the bar on sex education and health care, other school systems and states lag behind.
Too few young people report receiving any formal sex education at all. As the nation's largest provider of sex education, Planned Parenthood continues to push for more, and better, sex education.
Accurate information and answers to questions without shame or judgment, along with access to health care services, helps keep young people safe and healthy — both in and out of school.
