Support for Accurate Health & Sexuality Education
By: Ellen Soyka
Women4Change Public Policy Committee Member
Across the United States, only 18 states require that health and sexuality education be medically accurate. This means that for millions of students, including Indiana’s students, health class can be an active source of misinformation and fear. When the health and sexuality curriculum is not required to be medically accurate and comprehensive, at best, students learn little about critical topics. At worst, students leave the class with misconceptions and newly learned biases.
Some health class misconceptions are common enough that they have become jokes-- such as the idea that kissing can lead to pregnancy or that sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are extremely severe and deadly-- but many are quite harmful. Some students are wrongfully taught that condoms always fail, that HIV is a “gay disease,” or even that victims/survivors of sexual assault are somehow to blame. These ideas contribute to risky behaviors, like choosing not to use condoms because of the belief they do not work, which can lead to STIs or unintended pregnancies. Students also learn biases from these teachings, believing that LGBTQ+ people are dangerous or viewing victims/survivors of sexual violence negatively.
HB 1047 addresses this problem, requiring that health and sexuality instruction be free from discrimination and comprehensive, addressing topics including anatomy, consent, healthy relationships, and contraception (including but not limited to abstinence). The bill also defines age-appropriate education, ensuring that young students are not shown graphic STI images before learning about their own anatomy, but also ensuring that high schoolers are not learning basic concepts after many of them are already sexually active. These topics listed in the bill, as well as others like teaching appropriately both for abstinent and sexually active students, align with the National Sexuality Education Standards, the gold standard for health and sexuality curricula across the country.
In many states, including Indiana, people who teach health and sexuality to students do not have to meet the same rigorous qualifications necessary to teach other subjects. In some cases, these instructors are knowledgeable, but much of the time, students miss out on learning such critical skills as values-based decision making, communicating boundaries and consent, and planning for their future goals because their health class showed them fear-mongering images and discouraged questions. In contrast, HB 1047 requires that anyone teaching health and sexuality must have up-to-date knowledge of medical research about sexuality, pregnancy, and STIs so Hoosier students receive the best education possible.
Hoosier students deserve the highest-quality education, and ensuring they learn medically and scientifically accurate information about their health and relationships is the minimum foundation they need to make good decisions and stay safe. Without HB 1047, our students can be taught by unqualified people who rely on scare tactics and outright lies. With HB 1047, our students will be taught by highly qualified teachers who can provide students with the tools they need to be healthy throughout their lives, making Indiana’s future families healthier and safer. You can help make this vision a reality by telling your state representative why you support HB 1047 through this action form. To make an even bigger impact, ask your friends and family about their experiences learning about health and sexuality in school and encourage them to support this bill to improve education for the next generation of students.
Learn More…
Sexual health education, HB 1047 - Prohibits the state board of education from distributing human immunodeficiency virus literature to students without the consent of the governing body of the school corporation the students attend. Requires instruction in state accredited schools on human sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases to be based on information that is medically and scientifically accurate and age appropriate. Lists the criteria that instruction on human sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases must meet.