MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Senate has passed legislation that would prohibit sex education for public school students in kindergarten through fourth grade and require an abstinence-only approach, known as “sexual risk avoidance,” for older grades, despite the state’s persistently high rates of teen births and sexually transmitted infections.
Senate Bill 209, approved last week on a party-line vote, rewrites state law to mandate that any sex education curriculum “exclusively teach sexual risk avoidance and encourage abstinence from all sexual activity” while barring instruction for K-4 students. The measure now heads to the House, where Republicans hold overwhelming majorities.
Current Alabama law does not require sex education but mandates that abstinence be stressed as the sole foolproof method against pregnancy and STIs if schools choose to teach it, alongside medically accurate contraception information. The new bill would eliminate comprehensive sex education options, restrict contraception discussions and prohibit partnerships with organizations that perform or advocate abortions.
Studies spanning two decades show abstinence-only programs fail to curb teen pregnancy or STI transmission and often leave students uninformed about condoms, birth control and healthy relationships. Comprehensive sex education, by contrast, has been linked to delayed sexual activity and safer practices among youth.
Alabama’s outcomes reflect the limits of such policies. The state recorded 20.1 teen births per 1,000 females ages 15-19 in 2023, well above the U.S. average of 13.6, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. It ranked among the top states for teen pregnancy in prior years, even as national figures fell.
STDs paint a similar picture. Alabama placed seventh nationally in overall STD rates at 934.7 cases per 100,000 people, per a 2024 analysis of federal data, with top rankings in chlamydia (eighth) and gonorrhea (fourth).
The push aligns with Republican efforts nationwide to limit classroom discussions of sex, gender and reproduction, coinciding with strict abortion bans that offer pregnant teens few alternatives. Opponents say this dual approach — curtailing education while blocking abortion — worsens public health challenges rather than resolving them.
SB209 would take effect Oct. 1 if signed into law, preserving parents’ opt-out rights with 14 days’ notice. Public health and education advocates are urging House members to reject or revise it, citing Alabama’s poor national standings in teen births and STDs.