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Is It Time To Rethink Sex Ed? : 1A According to the CDC, the teenage birth rate has dropped dramatically over the last two decades.

Advocates say comprehensive sex education and access to contraception are two reasons for that decline.

But, in a post-Roe world, some states are rethinking their sex ed requirements. Parents are getting involved too, voicing their concerns about what sex ed classes now cover.

Curricula vary wildly across the country. In some states, like Indiana, educators are reporting online threats and harassment over these classes.

We hear from teachers, parents and students from around the country on changes they want to see.

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1A

Is It Time To Rethink Sex Ed?

Is It Time To Rethink Sex Ed?

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Posters are displayed in the classroom of Health Education teacher Leticia Jenkins at James Monroe High School in North Hills, California, where her ninth grade students learn lessons on life amid a skyrocketing surge in sexually transmitted diseases in California. FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

Posters are displayed in the classroom of Health Education teacher Leticia Jenkins at James Monroe High School in North Hills, California, where her ninth grade students learn lessons on life amid a skyrocketing surge in sexually transmitted diseases in California.

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

America's teenagers are having fewer babies.

According to the CDC The teenage birth rate has dropped dramatically over the last two decades. As of 2020, it's down 75 percent from its peak in 1991.

Advocates say comprehensive sex education and access to contraception are two reasons for that decline.

But, in a post-Roe world, some states are rethinking their sex ed requirements. Parents are getting involved too, voicing their concerns about what sex ed classes now cover.

Curricula vary wildly across the country. In Mississippi, the U.S. state with the highest teen birth rate, sex education is required to be abstinence-focused. Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, the state with the fourth-highest teen birth rate, sex education is not required.

Only three states (California, Washington, and Oregon) require that sex education be comprehensive. In some places, like Indiana, sexual health educators are reporting online threats and harassment over such classes.

What kind of changes do teachers, parents and students want to see?

WFYI's Lee Gaines, Advocates for Youth's Deb Hauser, Amplify Youth Health Collective's Heather Duvall, and Teen Health Mississippi's Josh McCawley join us for the conversation.

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