RHAA

HB 6205 requires all Illinois public schools to teach medically accurate, age appropriate, comprehensive sexual health education.  Parents would be allowed to remove their children from classes if they do not want them to participate.

• Fact: Currently, Illinois schools are not required to teach sex education.  Many schools teach abstinence-only-until-marriage education which does not include medically accurate information about the use of contraception as a way to prevent unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.  Abstinence-only programs fail youth who or already are or will become sexually active.

• Fact: The RHAA would add comprehensive sexual health education to the list of subjects taught in Comprehensive Health Education which is already required to be taught in Illinois public schools.  This instruction already includes the subjects of health, human growth and development, the emotional, psychological, physiological, hygienic and social responsibilities of family life, prevention and control of disease, substance abuse, and – in later grades – AIDS and sexual assault.

• Fact: Age appropriate means just that.  Kindergarteners are taught about issues of safety and appropriate touching.  Children approaching puberty would be taught about anatomy, physical changes related to puberty, body image, etc.  Older students would be taught about abstinence, sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancy, and contraception.

• Fact: Comprehensive sexual health education includes teaching about abstinence.  Information about abstinence is an essential and important component of any comprehensive sexual health class.

• Fact: Local school districts will still have control over choosing which curricula they want to use.

• Fact: Private schools would not be affected by this provision.
Recently, a study on abstinence education published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine concluded that “theory-based abstinence-only interventions may have an important role in preventing adolescent sexual involvement.”  This study was of African American 6^th and 7^th grade students living in a Northeastern urban area.  They were given 8 hours of instruction.  The study found that the students who were taught only about abstinence were less likely to report that they had engaged in sexual intercourse within the next two years.  However, about 33% of the students did report that they had engaged in sexual intercourse during that time period.
• Fact: Experts note that it is not good policy to shape public policy based solely on one study. This study is simply another data point to help develop effective health policies for the wide range of young people in this country.

• Fact: It is not good policy to extrapolate these findings to other groups.  What may have more effective at preventing sexual intercourse for this age group may not be effective for older ages.  The same could be said about the other demographic factors in the study as it was of a specific group of students.