Members of Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity participated in the ACLU’s advocacy day at the Alabama state House in Montgomery on Tuesday. Those in attendance spoke out against Senate Bill 209, which would require abstinence-only sexual education in public schools, and spoke with lawmakers inside the state House about the legislation. Students in kindergarten through fourth grade would also be prohibited from receiving any sex education instruction.
Alabama currently requires public schools to encourage abstinence in sex education courses as the only fully effective form of preventing sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. The bill would also prevent programs from providing information on receiving abortions or contraceptives.
Filed by state Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, SB 209 has not yet been brought to the Senate floor at the time of publication.
“I just think it’s preposterous that we can get away with just not educating people on something that absolutely is necessary to their lives,” said Anna Catherine Harris, a freshman majoring in communication studies. She said she “literally had zero sex education” her entire life in Alabama, and believes the lack of sexual education in the state is a cause of Alabama’s high sexually transmitted disease and teen pregnancy rates.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20.1 of every 1,000 births in Alabama come from women aged 15-19. The state ranked fifth in primary and secondary in reported syphilis cases, eighth in gonorrhea and fourth in chlamydia in 2023.
“We feel very strongly and very passionate about things like this in politics, but we found that we don’t find ourselves going out and speaking about it,” said Claire Landers, a freshman majoring in history, referring to herself and Harris. “And so we decided to hold ourselves accountable to go to an event and make our voices heard, and hopefully this will become a pattern for us.”
Ethan Williams, a sophomore majoring in psychology and philosophy, said he believes the youth need to continue to be educated on sexual health.
“I know that all of our children need to be educated in this kind of stuff in the future,” he said. “We need to make sure everybody knows what they’re doing, especially from a young age. That’s just something that needs to happen and continue to happen.”
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