You know Justin cares when…

… he takes the time to write a letter to the editor of The Patriot Ledger.

Mandatory health—and sex—education is essential

Making health education, including sex ed, a mandatory part of the state’s curriculum is a move long overdue. Kudos to our lawmakers for finally putting the health of young adults in the spotlight.

I am a proud graduate of the Abington Public Schools. Our informative sex ed curriculum was a valuable service to myself and my classmates. Unfortunately, two years out of high school, it’s apparent to me that my peers who had no comprehensive sex education are ill informed and unsafe in their sexual practices.

Comprehensive sex education teaches teens that it’s OK to abstain, but that if they’re going to have sex, there are ways to make it a safer experience, emotionally and physically. The longer we keep comprehensive sex ed from our students, the longer we expose them to sexually transmitted infections, unintentional pregnancies, and emotional distress. And the longer we permit the charade of abstinence-only education to be taught in its place, the longer we allow a scientifically-disproved program to mislead our young adults.

Mandatory health—and sex—education is essential for students’ health and safety. High school students can be the mature, responsible young adults parents want them to be—if they have the support and information necessary to think and judge for themselves.