The Healthy Teens Connecticut coalition is working to ensure that Connecticut's youth have access to medically accurate, age-appropriate sex education providing them with the necessary skills to make safe and responsible choices surrounding their sexual health.

In a poll conducted by Lake Research (March 2008), Connecticut voters express a significant level of urgency around providing comprehensive sex education in public schools. They strongly prefer that sex education be comprehensive, age appropriate and medically accurate and they largely reject abstinence-only programs. This sentiment crosses partisan lines and pro-choice and anti-choice voters alike express a preference for medically accurate sex education.

Did you know?

• Connecticut is one of 14 states that do not require a health education credit before graduation.¹
• The health education requirement can be met in middle school and high school health education courses.
• The Connecticut State Board of Education believes that a coordinated approach to school health effectively aligns health and education efforts and leads to improved physical, mental and developmental outcomes for students.
• A coordinated approach to school health provides the framework for families, community-based partners and schools to work together to improve student achievement. It incorporates eight components: physical education; nutrition; school-family-community partnerships; health services; mental health services; healthy physical and emotional school environment; staff wellness; and comprehensive health education.
• It is imperative that comprehensive health supported by a school-family community partnership be offered in pre-kindergarten through Grade 12.
• A coordinated approach to school health can be built upon these core principles which are embedded in the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) Healthy and Balanced Living Curriculum Framework for Comprehensive School Health Education and Comprehensive Physical Education (2006)
• In 2008, polling showed 83% of CT voters think that with pressures mounting on our teens, sex education that includes information about abstinence and birth control can't be put off. (Lake Research March 2008)
• 72% (8,285) of reported Chlamydia cases in CT in 2007 were among young people aged 10-24. Left untreated, Chlamydia is a major contributor to infertility later in life. 57% (1,329) of reported Gonorrhea cases in CT in 2007 were among young people aged 10-24.²
• Teens and young adults under the age of 25 continue to be at risk for HIV and most young people are infected through unprotected sex.³ African Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV infection; accounting for 55% of all HIV infections reported among persons aged 13–24.⁴ The lifetime per person HIV care cost is now $618,900.⁵ In 2009 18% of newly reported HIV infections in Connecticut occurred in people between the ages of 13-29.⁶
• An estimated 80,000 CT high school students report they have had sexual intercourse and nearly 80% first had sexual intercourse between the ages of 13 and 16.⁷

What is comprehensive sex education?

Comprehensive sex education is responsible and balanced sexuality education that seeks to assist young people in understanding a positive view of sexuality, provide them with information and skills about caring for their sexual health, and help them acquire skills to make decisions now and in the future. It is medically accurate and provides information about abstinence and contraceptives as tools to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

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