New Mexico could buck trend of states scaling back sex ed in schools
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A coalition of New Mexico groups is supporting a bill this session to require "Comprehensive Human Sexuality Education" for public school students.
New Mexico is among 40 states to require sex-education instruction but according to Planned Parenthood, there is no guarantee the instruction is high quality or covers topics young people need to stay healthy, including information about HIV.
Nathan Saavedra, program manager for Equality New Mexico, said Senate Bill 258 would require sex education curricula is medically accurate.
"Our hope mostly is to save lives," Saavedra emphasized. "We know that sex education does save lives and it improves the health of all youth. It decreases bullying and harassment. Sex education is harm reduction, from our perspective."
In addition to Equality New Mexico, the state's ACLU organization and the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs support the more comprehensive approach. By contrast, last fall the Florida Department of Education ordered local school districts teaching sex education to promote abstinence and exclude discussion of contraception.
Saavedra noted many students, including those who are LGBTQ+, do not know what they should be doing to protect themselves and would benefit from discussions covering sexual orientation and gender identity.
"We're trying to get the point across and the law in place so those students no longer have to feel less than, or know less than, their peers," Saavedra stressed.
New Mexico's current standards for sex education surpass many other states but access is often dependent on where a student lives. As written, the bill would provide resources to rural and smaller districts to launch comprehensive programs. The proposed legislation still would allow parents to exempt their children from the sex-ed portion of required health courses.
