Using data from the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males, the 1995 National Survey of Family

Growth (NSFG) and the 2002 NSFG, changes in male and female adolescents’ reports of the sex
education they have received from formal sources were examined. Life-table methods were used to
measure the timing of instruction, and t tests were used for changes over time. From 1995 to 2002,
reports of formal instruction about birth control methods declined among both genders (males, from
81% to 66%; females, from 87% to 70%). This, combined with increases in reports of abstinence
education among males (from 74% to 83%), resulted in a lower proportion of teenagers’ overall
receiving formal instruction about both abstinence and birth control methods (males, 65% to 59%;
females, 84% to 65%), and a higher proportion of teenagers’ receiving instruction only about abstinence
(males, 9% to 24%; females, 8% to 21%). Teenagers in 2002 had received abstinence education about
two years earlier (median age, 11.4 for males, 11.8 for females) than they had received birth control
instruction (median age, 13.5 for both males and females). Among sexually experienced adolescents,
62% of females and 54% of males had received instruction about birth control methods prior to first sex.

Starting in 1981, federal funding began to support abstinence-based sex education at the behest of
conservative members of Congress. SIECUS was at a low ebb. But from 1988 until 2000, under the
leadership of Debra Haffner, SIECUS regained its prominence as a leading force in sex education in the
United States. Haffner and SIECUS adapted sexuality education to comprehensive health education
targeted against the spread of HIV/AIDS. Soon Haffner and allies further developed the idea into
curricula and program goals for comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) for schoolchildren. As opposed
to abstinence-based sex education, CSE provided sex education that did not avoid teaching about
HIV/AIDS, contraception, homosexuality, or interpersonal communication and decision-making skills.
The SIECUS Guidelines , published in 1991, were a landmark in sex education. Joint publication of the
National Sex Education Guidelines (2012) signaled a new emphasis on race, gender, and LGBTQ+
inclusion. Neither SIECUS nor any other organization.

July 2005 through January 2006. Randomly selected nationally representative sample of US adults aged
18 to 83 years (N = 1096). Support for 3 different types of sex education in schools: abstinence only,
comprehensive sex education, and condom instruction. Approximately 82% of respondents indicated
support for programs that teach students about both abstinence and other methods of preventing
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Similarly, 68.5% supported teaching how to properly use
condoms. Abstinence-only education programs, in contrast, received the lowest levels of support (36%)
and the highest level of opposition (about 50%) across the 3 program options. Self-identified
conservative, liberal, and moderate respondents all supported abstinence-plus programs, although the
extent of support varied significantly.
At the federal level, the U.S. congress has continued to substantially fund AOUM, and in FY 2016,
funding was increased to $85 million per year [[3]]. This budget was approved despite President
Obama's attempts to end the program after 10 years of opposition and concern from medical and public
health professionals, sexuality educators, and the human rights community that AOUM withholds
information about condoms and contraception, promotes religious ideologies and gender stereotypes,
and stigmatizes adolescents with nonheteronormative sexual identities. Other federal funding priorities
have moved positively toward more medically accurate and evidence-based programs, including teen
pregnancy prevention programs. These programs, although an improvement from AOUM, are not
without their challenges though, as they currently operate within a relatively narrow, restrictive scope of
“evidence”. At the state level, individual states, districts, and school boards determine implementation
of federal policies and funds. Limited in-class time and resources leave schools to prioritize sex
education in competition with academic subjects and other important health topics such as substance
use, bullying, and suicide.

Educating children and adolescents in public schools about sex is a deeply inflammatory act in the
United States. Since the 1980s, intense political and cultural battles have been waged between believers
in abstinence until marriage and advocates for comprehensive sex education. In The Sex Education
Debates, Nancy Kendall upends conventional thinking about these battles by bringing the school and
community realities of sex education to life through the diverse voices of students, teachers,
administrators, and activists.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1931-2393.2006.tb00277.x

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/360799561_Fighting_for_Comprehensive_Sex_Education

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/205706#26118526

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.03.032

https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226922294