Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Advisor

Jeannette Manger

Abstract

Teenage pregnancy rates have been declining since the 1990s, yet teenage pregnancy remains a pressing public health concern given its associated negative maternal and infant complications. Many experts and advocates have placed an increasing emphasis on school programs that provide teenagers with comprehensive education on healthy sexual functioning, safe sex practices, and effective contraceptive use, pointing to them as a means of reducing unplanned teen pregnancies. However, there is still some debate regarding the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education compared to more limited programs that focus primarily on promoting abstinence. Using data from County Health Rankings and SIECUS, we compared the rates of teen pregnancy and its associated complications between states with more abstinence-focused programs and those with more comprehensive programs. We found that states with more comprehensive sex education programs had, on average, lower teen birth rates and better maternal and infant health outcomes. This study provided a broad overview of trends across all states to show comprehensive sex education is the superior means to reduce teenage birth rates.

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