Dive Brief:
- California Superior Court Judge Donald Black has ruled that abstinence-only sex education is not sex education, prohibiting the approach from being the only type of sex ed a school provides for students.
- While the Fresno judge's ruling only applies to Clovis Unified School District, a 40,000 student district, it is likely to affect how other schools approach sex education — especially since this is the first time a judge has interpreted the state's 11-year-old sex education law.
- The current law requires schools to teach "age appropriate" sex education and that, starting in seventh grade, abstinence should be taught as the best way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. The current law, however, also says schools must teach “medically accurate information” on other methods.
Dive Insight:
The lawsuit against Clovis Unified was filed in 2012 by a number of parents who were frustrated by the fact that their school was focusing on abstinence-only sex education and made no mention or contraceptives — in some cases even saying they were ineffective. While certain contraception methods are not as effective as others, devices such as IUDs and hormone implants have amazing efficacy (2 out of 100 IUD user will get pregnant over 10 years) according to this graphic by the New York Times.
Sex education is not required in 28 states, and 19 of the states that do provide it require only abstinence to be covered. Judge Black's ruling aligns with a demand for better, more comprehensive curriculum for sex ed. According to a January poll conducted by Huffington Post and YouGov, two-thirds of Americans believe comprehensive sex education — including birth control facts — should be provided in schools.
