In a few short weeks, students will be back in school across the state and most of them have one thing in common: they haven’t received comprehensive sex education.
For multiple years in a row, the majority of school districts have had their reproductive health curriculum rejected by the state, causing students to miss out on critical education about prevention and control of disease, healthy relationships, and prevention of teen dating violence and unintended pregnancies.
Now, the Trump Administration is threatening to make it exponentially worse.
- They defunded the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program and evidence-based education.
- Now, they’re prioritizing funding abstinence-only education (which we know doesn’t work!) and organizations which exclusively focus on fertility tracking and “reproductive goals counseling,” excluding conversations about birth control, sexuality, and consent.
If that sounds familiar, it’s right out of the playbook that unregulated pregnancy centers use: by restricting what factual information they distribute, they attempt to influence not only the personal medical decisions someone makes, but our culture overall. In fact, this new shift may even encourage unregulated pregnancy centers to apply for the funding too.
There’s already a lawsuit filed to try to stop this and here in Florida, there are a number of organizations supporting young people to receive the resources they need to make informed, healthy decisions for their bodies and their futures.
- The Florida Healthy Youth Alliance: A statewide coalition of medical, research, and education professionals who champion the health and overall well being of the youth in Florida within the K-12 education system.
- SIECUS: A leading national voice for sex education who just released their mid-year report on the state of sex-ed.
- EducateUS: A movement of voters laser-focused on advancing sex education across the country.
- Prism: A youth-led nonprofit that works to expand access to LGBTQ-inclusive education and sexual health resources for young people in South Florida.
This is just a fraction of the organizations who need our support in order to prepare students for the real world and shape the next generation. Join one today!
