The SIECUS State Profiles highlights:
- 29 states and the District of Columbia require sex education.
- 38 states require HIV education.
- 30 states require schools to emphasize the importance of abstinence when sex education or HIV/STI instruction is provided.
- 16 states provide abstinence-only sex education
- 19 states require instruction on condoms or contraception when sex education or HIV/STI instruction is provided.
- 13 states do not require sex education or HIV/STI instruction to be any of the following: age-appropriate, medically accurate, culturally responsive, or evidence-based/evidence-informed.
- 13 states require sex education or HIV/STI instruction to include information on consent.
- 10 states require culturally responsive sex education and HIV/STI instruction.
- 9 states have policies that include affirming sexual orientation instruction on LGBTQ identities or discussion of sexual health for LGBTQ youth.
- 6 states explicitly require instruction that discriminates against LGBTQ people.
- 5 states have laws requiring comprehensive sex education (CSE). Of these:
- 3 states require comprehensive sex education to be taught in all schools
- 2 states require sex education curriculum to be comprehensive, IF it is taught in schools.
The provided highlights are not a comprehensive view of the patchwork of state and local policies that exist regarding sex education. Further, these highlights do not reflect the realities of how sex education is implemented in classrooms across the United States due to the intricacies of local control at the school district and individual school level. For more detailed inquiries regarding these statistics, please contact Alison Macklin, Director of Policy and Advocacy, amacklin@siecus.org
For more on state sex ed laws and policies across the US, view our Sex Ed State Law and Policy Chart. For a detailed look at sex ed activity in your community, click on your state in the map above.
About the SIECUS State Profiles:
The SIECUS State Profiles provides an in-depth and up-to-date look at the state of sex education in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the outer United States territories and associated states.
The profiles include an overview of each state’s current sex education laws, policies, and guidelines, newly introduced legislation, and relevant action that advocates have taken to advance or defend sex education in their communities. This report also incorporates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s School Health Profiles data to help paint a comprehensive picture of what sexual health education topics are, or are not, being taught to young people in the classroom.
The SIECUS State Profiles serves as a living resource and will be regularly updated as new legislation and related activity becomes available.
This resource is intended to be used by advocates, educators, policymakers, health care providers, parents, and youth to aid in efforts to advance sex education in every community across the country. To request older editions of the SIECUS State Profiles (2003 – 2015), please email info@siecus.org.
