Orange, San Bernardino County Parents Support Comprehensive Sex Education, Planned Parenthood Survey Finds

A majority of parents in Orange and San Bernardino counties support "comprehensive sex education," which teaches both abstinence and contraceptive use, as part of school curriculum, according to a Planned Parenthood survey released yesterday, the Orange County Register reports. The survey of 1,034 parents in the region found that 73% support an "age-appropriate, medically accurate" sex-education curriculum that "goes beyond abstinence-only" instruction. The survey also found that while 46% of parents said they know what type of sex education their children's schools were teaching, less than 50% feel sex education should be left "solely" to parents. In addition, 71% of parents reported they feel that sex education should begin in grades four through seven, and almost 70% would support increased funding for "comprehensive sex education," the Register reports. Currently, California law requires school districts to provide information on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, but the schools have "local control" over anything else that students are taught. Jon Dunn, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino counties, said, "We feel that it is very important that parents have a role and are able to tell us and their school districts how they feel about having this type of sex education available." However, Katherine Smith, president of the Anaheim Union School District, said that teen pregnancy "has been going on for decades" and added that sex education programs "aren't working" (Walker, Orange County Register, 9/26).