The Mississippi House has voted to advance a bill to allow schools more flexibility in the options available for sexual education.
House Bill 837 passed with a 84-35 vote last week, allowing a curriculum that would still encourage students to delay sexual activity but would also give them information about birth control pills, condoms or other contraception.
The classes would require parental consent.
However, it is unclear which method actually produces better results. Two reports released in recent weeks point to very different conclusions.
One study, published by the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, suggests abstinence-only education may work.
About a third of sixth- and seventh-graders became sexually active over the next two years when exposed to abstinence-only programs, compared to nearly half of the group that received “abstinence-plus” education.
The study was led by John B. Jemmott of the University of Pennsylvania.
“I think we’ve written off abstinence-only education without looking closely at the nature of the evidence,” Jemmott told the Washington Post. “Our study shows this could be one approach that could be used.”
However, critics suggest that the curriculum of the program the study was based on was not representative of most abstinence programs. The sessions discouraged sex before the child is ready, not neccesarily before marriage.
A report from Planned Parenthood, titled “Sex Education in Mississippi: Why ‘Just’ Wait Just Doesn’t Work” was also released last week.
According to the report, young people in Mississippi are exposed to messages that rely on “fear and shame and suggest that premarital sex is inevitably harmful.”
Despite teaching only abstinence in public schools, Mississippi has some of the highest rates of teen sexual activity in the nation.
A study by the CDC found that nearly 60 percent of Mississippi high school students reported having sexual intercourse. Nationwide, only about 48 percent reported sexual activity.
Another study by the CDC found that rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV/AIDS were about twice as high in Mississippi youth ages 15-19 as in the rest of the nation.
Democratic Rep. John Mayo of Clarksdale has said the intention of the bill is to allow both abstinence and abstinence-plus education to be taught in Mississippi. That would give the teachers five years to evaluate the benefits of both programs.
However, Planned Parenthood reports that measuring rates of early pregnancy, contraction of STDs and other measurable factors may not be enough to justify abstinence-only education.
The report also claims that many abstinence-based curricula encourage gender stereotypes.
An example, the report says, is a program of Scott and Rankin County school districts. In the program, participating students participate in a mock wedding ceremony. The “bride” and “groom” exchange wedding gifts, each a sneaker. The bride presents a dirty sneaker, representing “a lifestyle of impurity,” while the groom presents a clean sneaker, representing “purity until marriage.”
According to the report, “the gift exchange portrays the bride as permanently spoiled since she became sexually active.”
Some awmakers have said they know that many feel sexual education doesn’t belong in schools.
“I know it would be better if all this was being taught at home, but it’s not happening and we have a responsibility to do something about it. We have an opportunity to do something about it,” said Democratic Rep. Cecil Brown, chairman of the House Education Committee, told the Clarion-Ledger.
nContact Taylor Kuykendall at tkuykendall@gwcommonwealth.com.
