Policy Advocates Renew Calls for Planned Parenthood-Style Sex-Education Law in Arkansas

On Monday the media outlet Arkansas Advocate reported on a renewed push for Planned Parenthood-style comprehensive sex-education in the state.

The goal is to “improve” sex-education and reduce teen pregnancy in Arkansas.

On the surface, it may sound like a good idea. However, Arkansas has been down this road before, and we know from experience that Planned Parenthood-style sex-education is bad for Arkansas.

In the 1980s and 1990s, public officials in Arkansas promoted comprehensive sex-education, but the programs failed to have a meaningful impact on teen pregnancy and abortion in the state.

Then in 1997 the Arkansas Legislature and Governor Mike Huckabee began promoting abstinence education in Arkansas. From 1997 to 2005, Arkansas’ teen birthrate decreased 17%, and Arkansas’ teen abortion rate plummeted a staggering 48%.

Governor Huckabee’s abstinence education model was so successful in Arkansas that it drew national recognition. Family Council was pleased to support Arkansas’ good abstinence education program. The program continued into the early 2000s, but was gradually scaled back as a result of budget cuts and changes in state and federal government.

According to the CDC, teenagers who practice abstinence are healthier in nearly every way than teenagers who are sexually active.

Sexually-active teens have been found to be less healthy and to engage in riskier behavior.

In other words, abstinence is linked to healthier lifestyles overall.

Comprehensive sex-education programs often focus on contraceptives and “risk-reduction” without encouraging abstinence or teaching teenagers to avoid risky situations altogether. This leads to riskier behavior among teens. Those are just some of the reasons Family Council opposes comprehensive sex-education in Arkansas.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.