Comprehensive sex ed ensures that students receive age-appropriate, evidence-based, medically-accurate information about sexual health. Students are given the resources and facts they need to protect themselves and make responsible decisions.
Effective comprehensive sex education programs begin as early as kindergarten by introducing age-appropriate concepts of anatomy and body autonomy. This early education is built upon throughout a student’s education and eventually includes topics such as peer pressure, reproductive self-care, sexual identity/orientation, coercive and healthy relationships, birth control and Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) information, and processes such as fertilization and menstruation. Comprehensive sex education encourages parent-child communication about sex. It also teaches that refraining from sexual activity is the most effective way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and disease.
It is widely accepted that educating youth on sex is essential for their health. Leading public health and medical professional organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Public Health Association, and the Institute of Medicine and the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, support a comprehensive approach to educating young people about sex.4