PPAF advocates for policies and legislation that seek to prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – and sexuality education is a key part of that effort. However, for sex education to work and for young people to stay healthy, sex education must be comprehensive, age-appropriate, and medically-accurate. Such evidence-based programs have been proven to delay the initiation of sex, reduce the incidence of unprotected sex, and increase the use of condoms and contraception. Research also shows that providing comprehensive sexuality education helps young people to stay healthy, which enhances their ability to learn.

Making healthy, responsible decisions about relationships and sex is not always easy, especially for young people. At Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts (PPLM), trained educators provide comprehensive sexuality education to students; equip professionals to provide this medically-accurate, age-appropriate sex education to young people; and work with parents to prepare them to be the primary sexuality educator of their child. The development of PPLM’s education programs is built on the premise that parents should be their children’s primary sexuality educator and that they should have a partner in their children’s schools.

Schools and parents working together on young people’s sexual health education provide a strong model for improving students’ health. Students consistently rank parents and teachers as their most trusted source of sexual health information: over peers, over the media. In addition, 93% of parents of junior high school students and 91% of parents of high school students believe it is very or somewhat important to have sexuality education as part of the school curriculum. To that end, we support legislation that increases young people’s access to the information and resources they need to make healthy, responsible decisions about sex and relationships.

State Legislation We Support:

• An Act Relative to Healthy Youth (HB1063/SB190)

We support “An Act Relative to Healthy Youth” in order to ensure that those school districts that elect to teach sex education to their students use curriculum that is age-appropriate and medically accurate. Effective programs teach the benefits of abstaining from sexual activity while also providing vital information about contraception, disease prevention, healthy relationships, and communication. “An Act Relative to Healthy Youth” would ensure that these needs are met while maintaining existing law that allows local school boards to make decisions about curriculum. In addition, this bill gives parents the ability to opt their children out of their school’s sexuality education programs.

National Legislation We Support:

The U.S. Congress makes vital decisions every year about sexuality education that impact local and state policy and resources. In Fiscal Year 2010 alone, Massachusetts state and local entities received over $5.5 million in federal funding for sexuality education. PPAF supports national legislation that would direct funding to comprehensive sexuality education programs and eliminate funding for harmful abstinence-only education programs.

• Real Education for Healthy Youth (S1782/HR3324)

We support the “Real Education for Healthy Youth” bill, which would set a high standard for comprehensive sexuality education in the United States. This legislation provides a set of comprehensive guidelines for sexuality education programs that include communication and decision-making, abstinence, preventing unintended pregnancy and STIs, and sexual harassment. It goes even further to include grants for programs that reach both adolescents and young adults in institutions of higher education, require programs to be LGBT-inclusive, and provide resources for teacher training.