The Impact of Sexual Education on Teen Pregnancy Rates

Teenage pregnancy presents multifaceted challenges for young individuals, their families, and society as a whole. While some teenagers may consciously choose pregnancy, many others experience it unintentionally, often lacking sufficient knowledge and preparation for the responsibilities of parenthood. Education plays a crucial role in preventing teenage pregnancies and empowering young people to make informed decisions about their reproductive health.

Understanding the Landscape of Sexual Education

There's little consensus over the best way to teach children and teens about sexuality. The political debate over sex ed is taking place against a perplexing public health backdrop. The teen pregnancy rate has plummeted over the past 30 years, while epidemics of sexually transmitted infections among younger Americans are showing no signs of slowing. There are so few well-designed studies that tell us if sex ed is helping, making things worse or doing nothing at all. Researchers would have to randomly assign preteens or teens to a sex ed class and then figure out how to monitor subsequent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

Comprehensive sex education is a catchall term that includes everything that isn’t abstinence only - from birth control use and sexual consent to the reproductive system and sexually transmitted infections. Comprehensive programs may also include or even emphasize abstinence along with these other topics. Because the content of these classes varies, it’s hard to generalize about comprehensive sex or its effectiveness.

The University of Washington Study: A Promising Outlook for Comprehensive Sex Education

Researchers from the University of Washington conducted a study that sheds light on the effectiveness of different approaches to sex education. The study, based on a national survey of 1,719 teens ages 15 to 19, found that adolescents who receive comprehensive sex education are significantly less likely to become pregnant than adolescents who receive abstinence-only-until-marriage or no formal sex education. According to Pamela Kohler, the study's lead author, "It is not harmful to teach teens about birth control in addition to abstinence."

The Ineffectiveness of Abstinence-Only Education

The University of Washington study joins a host of others that prove that abstinence-only does little, and comprehensive sex education does much for our teens. The dangers of abstinence-only are nothing new - one well-known study by Mathematica found that students who participated in abstinence-only programs are just as likely to have sex as their peers who did not participate.

Yet in the face of this overwhelming evidence, 1 in 4 teens receive only abstinence-only instruction. On top of that, 9 percent of teens receive no sex education at all, particularly those in rural or poor areas. Thankfully, that leaves two-thirds of students in comprehensive sex ed. As temporarily reassuring as that might be, we cannot also lose sight of the fact that 1 in 4 teen girls have an STD. This sobering fact also points to how much work we have left to do. The University of Washington study does not speak to how comprehensive sex ed should be implemented.

The Role of Schools in Providing Comprehensive Sex Education

Schools play a vital role in preventing teenage pregnancy by providing education, resources, and support to teenagers. Schools can offer comprehensive sex education courses, which have been shown to be effective in reducing teenage pregnancy rates. Comprehensive sex education offers a holistic approach to sexual health education that covers a wide range of topics, including abstinence education, contraceptive options, and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and diseases.

Parental Involvement: A Crucial Complement to School-Based Education

While schools are critical in preventing teenage pregnancy, it’s important to remember that parents also have a responsibility to educate their children about sexual health. Open and honest communication between parents and children about sex and relationships can help teenagers make informed decisions and avoid unintended pregnancies.

Community-Based Programs: Expanding Access to Education and Support

Community-based pregnancy prevention programs can also play a valuable role in reducing teenage pregnancy rates. These programs offer outreach, education, and support services to teenagers who may not have access to the information and resources they need to make informed decisions about their reproductive health. For instance, the Teen Outreach Program (TOP) is a community-based program that offers teenagers from Wichita skills education, community service opportunities, and sexuality education.

Healthcare Providers: Providing Essential Sexual Health Services

In addition to education and community programs, healthcare providers can also play a vital role in preventing teenage pregnancy. By offering sexual health services specifically designed for teenagers, healthcare providers can provide information and resources that are tailored to their unique needs. These services can include birth control options, STI testing, and counseling.

Addressing Barriers to Accessing Information and Services

Preventing teenage pregnancy can be challenging. Cultural and societal norms may make it difficult for teenagers to access information and resources related to sexual health. Additionally, some teenagers may face barriers such as financial or geographic obstacles to accessing healthcare services.

The Impact of Teenage Pregnancy on Education

Teenage pregnancy can have a significant impact on a teenager’s education. Many teenage mothers experience academic difficulties, including increased absenteeism and a greater likelihood of dropping out of school. Teenage mothers may also face financial challenges and may struggle to find employment that allows them to support themselves and their children.

A Comprehensive Approach: The Key to Reducing Teen Pregnancy Rates

To effectively reduce teenage pregnancy rates, we need a comprehensive approach that involves education, community programs, and healthcare providers working together. There are effective teenage pregnancy prevention programs implemented worldwide, including in Wichita, Kansas.

Federal Programs Supporting Sex Education

The federal government supports programs to reduce adolescent pregnancy. Two of these are evidence-based sex education programs. However, the federal government also spends up to $110 million per year on misleading and harmful abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that deny young people necessary and even lifesaving information about their own bodies, reproductive health and sexuality, and that fail to achieve their stated goals.

Two federal funding streams for evidence-based and medically accurate sex education: the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program and the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP).

Read also: Mitigating Fake News

Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program

The TPP program, established in 2010 and run by HHS, supports the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based programs and innovative approaches to reducing pregnancy among adolescents. Its stated purpose is to build an evidence base of effective sex education programs.

Since 2014, Congress has appropriated $101 million each year in funding for the program. Ten percent of funding goes to training, technical assistance, evaluation and other forms of program support. Of the remaining funds, 75% goes to grantees that replicate effective programs (Tier 1), and 25% goes to grantees that test innovative strategies to reduce adolescent pregnancy rates (Tier 2).

As of April 2025, the program supports Tier 1 grants in 26 states and Puerto Rico and Tier 2 grants in nine states and Washington, DC. Grantees include for-profit and nonprofit organizations, clinics, hospitals, state and local governments, schools and universities.

HHS has identified 52 programs funded by the TPP program that meet criteria for program effectiveness, including one or more favored outcomes in increased contraceptive use or reduced sexual activity, number of sexual partners, STIs or pregnancy rates. These programs and their evaluations provide useful information about where, when and with whom programs are most effective, allowing program organizers to design curricula that best fit their context and audience.

Personal Responsibility Education Program

Established in 2010, PREP supports a variety of evidence-based programs that aim to prevent pregnancy and STIs among adolescents by emphasizing abstinence and contraception. The program focuses on youth aged 10-19 who are homeless, in or aging out of foster care, living with HIV or AIDS, victims of human trafficking or living in areas with high adolescent birth rates. It also focuses on people younger than 21 who are pregnant or parenting.

Congress has funded PREP at $75 million per year. The program supports three types of grantees-state, tribal and nongovernmental-across 50 states, DC and seven territories or countries.

PREP-funded curricula are not required to be comprehensive, but the majority incorporate elements of comprehensive sex education: healthy relationships (97%), healthy life skills (86%) and adolescent development (83%).

Curricula funded by PREP fulfill the goals of the program by changing behaviors related to pregnancy risk. For example, after taking part in PREP-funded curriculum in 2020-2021: More than half (56%) of participants said they were more likely to abstain from sex for the next six months. Among those who said they might have sex, 59% reported they were more likely to use birth control and 65% were more likely to use a condom than before participating.

PREP curricula also resonate with young people: About 69% of participants expressed interest in the content. Roughly 88% felt respected by the program. More than 77% said that they were more likely to better understand what makes a relationship healthy.

Federal Abstinence-Only Programs

The goal of federal abstinence-only programs is to prevent adolescent pregnancy by discouraging young people from having sex before marriage. Though these programs purport to encourage “sexual risk avoidance,” this terminology reflects an attempt to disguise abstinence-only messaging and ineffective abstinence-only approaches with a more appealing public health framing. Predecessor abstinence education grant programs were simply rebranded.

While the curricula funded through these federal programs must provide information that is medically accurate, they are far from comprehensive. For example, the Title V Sexual Risk Avoidance Education program allows grantees to discuss contraception, but they are barred from providing demonstrations of how specific methods work. There are two main federal funding streams dedicated to abstinence-only programs: the Title V Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) grant program, and the Discretionary Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) grant program, which receives funding through annual spending bills. Both are managed by HHS.

The Title V Sexual Risk Avoidance Education program promotes abstinence as the primary method for preventing teen pregnancy and STIs. It emphasizes avoiding all sexual activity outside of marriage and typically excludes instruction on contraceptive use beyond failure rates. Since 2017, it has been funded at roughly $75 million per year. Grantees in 36 states and territories received $49.2 million for fiscal year (FY) 2024.

The Discretionary Sexual Risk Avoidance Education program is a rebranding of the Competitive Abstinence Education grant program and was established by the 2016 appropriations bill. Funding for the program, initially $5 million per year, has grown steadily to $35 million annually. The program awarded $9.6 million to 28 recipients in 13 states and territories for FY 2024.

The general departmental-funded Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (GD-SRAE) program awarded grants for a three-year project period. This program is funded by the appropriation for the General Departmental Management for the Office of the Secretary under HHS. The program awarded $13.6 million to 29 recipients in 16 states for FY 2024.

Research shows that federal abstinence-only funding does not lower adolescent birth rates. In fact, the more that state policies emphasize abstinence-only programs, the higher the incidence of adolescent pregnancies and births. An HHS-funded analysis found that abstinence-only programs do not affect the incidence of pregnancy, HIV or other STIs in adolescents. In addition, abstinence-only programs are often heteronormative and portray LGBTQ+ students as deviant. Stigma and discrimination against LGBTQ+ students increase their risk of HIV infection, substance use disorder, suicide and experiencing violence.

The Gold Standard: Comprehensive Sex Education

No federal programs specifically fund and expand access to comprehensive sex education, which is considered the gold standard of sex education. Comprehensive sex education covers a broad range of topics, including human development, relationships, communication and decision-making skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and cultural representations of sexuality and gender. These curricula frame sexuality as a normal part of life and are medically accurate, LGBTQ+ inclusive, and culturally and age-appropriate.

A 2018 review of curricula from around the world, commissioned by the United Nations, found that comprehensive sex education programs contribute to numerous outcomes for adolescents, including delayed initiation and decreased frequency of sexual intercourse, fewer sexual partners and increased use of condoms and other contraceptives.

Research indicates that comprehensive sex education programs also can reduce homophobia, expand students’ understanding of gender and gender norms, decrease intimate partner violence and improve communication skills.

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