Sex education: One approach doesn’t fit all families
A pair of bills in the Washington Legislature claim to ensure “medically and scientifically accurate” sexual education for students. However, HB 2184 and ESSB 5395 rely on extremely outdated 2005 guidelines that incorrectly assume comprehensive sex education is the most effective type for reducing teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.
Recent research does not show that any type of sex education consistently achieves these goals. There are multiple types of school-based sex education and extracurricular programs, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stresses “that it is important to have a variety of program models available for implementation” to accommodate diverse communities.
Yet these bills force one type of sex education on all school districts with no means for parental appeal. Research points to parental influence on children as being a more critical factor in their behavior than any school program.
These bills are about political control, not science.
Sharon Quick, Bonney Lake
(Quick is Washington’s state director for the American Academy of Medical Ethics)
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 1:13 PM with the headline "Sex education: One approach doesn’t fit all families."