sex education news stories on Newser

Utah Legislature Expels Sex Ed

Kevin Spak — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 08:39:26 CST

Utah's legislature has passed a bill allowing schools to drop their sex education programs and forbidding any instruction on the use of contraception. The Senate passed the bill Tuesday in a 19-10 vote, the Salt Lake City Tribune reports. Some Democrats spoke up against the bill and asked questions about...

Utah Bill Bars Sex Ed Unless It's Abstinence-Only

Rob Quinn — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 03:52:05 CST

A bill passed by Utah's House of Representatives gives schools a choice: Teach sex education that's all about not having sex, or drop sex ed. The bill, which allows schools to skip sex education, and bars those that keep it from discussing contraception, was passed 45-28 after a heated discussion...

Teens Text and Google for Newfangled Sex Ed

Neal Colgrass — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:06:00 CST

Why teach sex education in class when students prefer to text and Google about it anyway? So say some health organizations and school districts that are setting up sex-ed websites and texting services for teens, the New York Times reports. And students seem to like it: “You can ask a...

Church Slams New NYC Sex Ed Mandate

Rob Quinn — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:41:05 CDT

Mandatory sex education is returning to public middle and high schools in New York City after nearly 20 years, and the Catholic church isn't happy about it. A spokesman for the archdiocese says the mandate "allows the public school system to substitute its beliefs and values for those of the...

20 Years Later, Sex Ed Back in NYC Schools

Sarah Whitmire — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:18:45 CDT

Mandatory sex education has been on hiatus for almost 20 years in New York City, but it's officially back. The move comes as part of a much larger effort, announced last week by the Bloomberg administration, to better the lives of black and Latino teens, the New York Times reports....

It's OK for Teen Fiction to Address (Gasp) Sex

John Johnson — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:08:16 CDT

A new study about teen fiction raises a familiar alarm bell: The books have too much sex. Roughly half of young-adult titles have some kind of racy content, which runs the gamut from kissing to intercourse, warns the study from Brigham Young University. Oh, please, writes Tracy Clark-Flory at Salon...

Awkward Sex Talks With Teens Pay Off

Sarah Whitmire — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 09:46:36 CDT

Talking about the birds and bees is one of the most awkward conversations a parent can have with their kid, but a recent study says those talks are likely to make an impression. It found that 45% of teenagers admitted they listened to their parents' advice about sex—compared with...

Muslim Sex Ed Book Sparks Controversy

Mark Russell — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 04:22:39 CST

Sexual ignorance in Pakistan is harming and even killing people, says an 81-year-old Pakistani doctor who just wrote a sex-ed book from a Muslim perspective for his countrymen. "Ignorance about sexual matters is causing a lot of our young people unnecessary psychological distress," including suicide, and "we have to change...

In New York City, 41% of Pregnancies Aborted

Kevin Spak — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 10:54:05 CST

A whopping 41% of pregnancies in New York City ended in abortion in 2009, and that rate was even higher among some minorities, according to new data released by the health department. Non-Hispanic blacks, for example, had a 59.8% abortion rate, while Hispanics had a rate of 41.3%....