Advocates for comprehensive sex education say the restrictions in early education may prevent kids from getting age-appropriate foundational knowledge that they build on each year, said Alison Macklin, director of policy and advocacy at the progressive sex education organization SIECUS.
To comply with the new law in Kentucky, for example, the state’s education agency advised schools eliminate fifth-grade lessons on puberty and reproductive body parts.
Twenty-eight states require sex education, and 35 require HIV education, according to tracking by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.
Massachusetts, for example, recently announced new sexual health education guidelines, which were last updated in 1999.
She remembers just one optional day of sex education in middle school.
Persons:
Anne, Marie Amies Oelschlager, Alison Macklin, “, Macklin, aren't, ”, David Walls, Kathleen Ethier, Ethier, don’t, ” Ethier, Hope Crenshaw, aren’t, ” Crenshaw, Kayla Smith, ” Smith, Holly Ramer, Rebecca Boone
Organizations:
DES, Republican, Seattle Children's Hospital, The, Foundation, Guttmacher Institute, U.S . Centers for Disease Control, U.S . Department of Health, Human Services, Public Health, HHS, New, PREP, CDC’s, Adolescent, School Health, CDC, Teen Health Mississippi, University of Mississippi, Associated Press
Locations:
DES MOINES, Iowa, Seattle, Indiana, Arkansas, In Kentucky, Florida, Kentucky, ”, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Alabama, Colorado , Florida , Idaho , Iowa, South Carolina, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Miami, agency’s, Mississippi, U.S, Concord , New Hampshire, Boise , Idaho