Overview of Reproductive Health Education in Mississippi

Reproductive health education in Mississippi public schools is not comprehensive and does not provide adequate or accurate reproductive health education to students. Mississippi schools are required to offer sex education, but the curriculum must stress “abstinence-only” or “abstinence- plus” instruction.¹ The Mississippi Departments of Human Services and Health created and implemented Section 37-13-171 of the Mississippi Code in 1972, which places harsh guidelines on the kind of reproductive education that can be taught to students. These guidelines discourage all sex before a monogamous man-and-woman marriage is in place.² Some of the restrictions of this section include not addressing any sexual health practices for members of the LGBTQ+ community and the negative psychological and physical effects of not abstaining from sex out of wedlock.³

Mississippi schools were not required to teach any form of sex education until 2012, and the option of an “abstinence-plus” curriculum was created in the same year, which allowed schools to have conversations about contraception in the classroom.⁴ Parents do have the right to opt-out of these classes on behalf of their children, according to HB 235, the most recent amendment to reproductive education in Mississippi.⁵ The Supreme Court handed down a decision, Lawrence

v. Texas, that declared state laws, which “criminalize homosexual behavior,” to be unconstitutional in 2003.⁶ However, the Mississippi Code still requires the curriculum utilized to teach sex education to inform students of the current Mississippi law related to the LGBTQ+ community since the code outlaws “sodomy.”⁷ The law also states that all discussions of sexual orientation should be left out of the classroom, despite the fact that talking about intercourse between a man and a woman is an example of a sexual orientation discussion.

Mississippi’s Prioritization of Reproductive Health Care

Sex education and how it is taught in schools reflects the state of healthcare in Mississippi. According to the Mississippi Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 40.5% of high school students reported being currently sexually active, compared with 34% nationwide.⁸ As of 2024, Mississippi has both the highest rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.^{9 10} In June of 2022, after the Dobbs decision, the Mississippi Attorney General certified the state’s trigger ban, which bans all abortions except to save the life of the pregnant person or in cases of (continues after footnotes 1-10)

¹ https://siecus.org/stateprofiles/mississippi-state-profile-23/

² https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/2020/title-37/chapter-13/subchapter-sexandabstinenceeducation/section- 37-13-171/

³ Ibid

⁴ https://mdek12.org/healthyschools/schoolbasedpreventioneducation/

⁵  https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2024/html/HB/0200-0299/HB0235IN.htm

⁶ https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/02-102

⁷ https://sexeducationcollaborative.org/states/mississippi

⁸  https://www.advocatesforyouth.org/resources/fact-sheets/young-people-in-mississippi/

⁹ https://www.innerbody.com/std-testing/std-statistics-by-state

10 https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45184#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20state%20with,rate%20w as%20Mississippi%20(26.4)

rape or incest that are reported to law enforcement.¹¹ As of November 2022, 208,400 women in Mississippi were identified as living in contraceptive deserts, which means that they lack access to full contraceptive services.¹² Many of those women are also uninsured. The age of women who can reproduce and are without insurance in Mississippi is at 19.2% compared to the national average of 12.1%.¹³ All these statistics represent how little Mississippi prioritizes the health of women and how lawmakers prioritize restricting access to reproductive healthcare education rather than expanding it.

What’s Missing in Mississippi?

Despite statistics that show high rates of teen pregnancy, teen sexual activity, and sexually transmitted diseases, Mississippi continues to ensure that their curriculum for state sex education is not comprehensive. An oppositional state legislature that controls all local school boards has led to insufficient curriculum options that create gaps in knowledge and the incorrect education of Mississippi students. Under the “abstinence-only” curriculum, Mississippi public schools are missing discussions of contraception, which means that there is less education available for students to learn how to take care of their reproductive health.¹⁴

An organization that is actively trying to combat what is missing in Mississippi is called Teen Health Mississippi (THMS), which ensures students receive sex education instruction that is culturally responsive, medically accurate, trauma-informed, and evidence-based.¹⁵ They actively combat Mississippi’s approach of an incomplete, biased curriculum, which does not address the reproductive lives of students. THMS advocates for a more comprehensive and inclusive education for all students regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation, which is essential in creating a more equitable curriculum.¹⁶

Proposed Legislation: Revisiting and Implementing HB 1347

I propose revisiting HB 1347, an amendment made to Section 37-13-171 of the Mississippi Code of Education that did not pass when originally introduced in 2019. Its purpose was to enact a comprehensive sexual health education program in Mississippi public schools.¹⁷ All students would be provided with a curriculum that focuses on healthy relationships, medically accurate, LGBTQ+ inclusive, age-appropriate sex education.¹⁸

Mississippi has consistently had one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the United States over the past few decades.¹⁹ By reintroducing and implementing HB 1347, which includes all the standards American College noted in their report about comprehensive programs, students would be better equipped to make informed decisions about their sexual health.

¹¹ https://reproductiverights.org/maps/state/mississippi/

¹² https://powertodecide.org/sites/default/files/2022-12/State%20Factsheet_Mississippi.pdf

¹³ Ibid

¹⁴  https://teenhealthms.org/blog/what-is-abstinence-plus-sex-education-vs-abstinence-only-education/

¹⁵ https://teenhealthms.org/policy-advocacy/

¹⁶ Ibid

¹⁷  https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2019/html/HB/1300-1399/HB1347IN.htm

¹⁸ Ibid

19 https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45184#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20state%20with,rate%20w as%20Mississippi%20(26.4)

Bibliography

“2020 Mississippi Code Title 37 - Education.” Justia U.S. Law. Accessed March 6, 2025. https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/2020/title-37/chapter-13/subchapter- sexandabstinenceeducation/section-37-13-171/.

“Comprehensive Sexuality Education.” American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, November 2016. https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee- opinion/articles/2016/11/comprehensive-sexuality- education#:~:text=Studies%20have%20demonstrated%20that%20comprehensive,transmitt ed%20infections%2C%20and%20adolescent%20pregnancy.

“Contraceptive Access in Mississippi.” Power to Decide, November 18, 2022. https://powertodecide.org/sites/default/files/2022-12/State%20Factsheet_Mississippi.pdf.

“Health Education School-Based Prevention Education.” Mississippi Department of Education.
Accessed March 6, 2025. https://mdek12.org/healthyschools/schoolbasedpreventioneducation/.

Helsel, Amber. “What Is Abstinence-plus Sex Education vs. Abstinence-Only Education?” Teen Health Mississippi, March 8, 2021. https://teenhealthms.org/blog/what-is-abstinence-plus- sex-education-vs-abstinence-only-education/.

“House Bill 1347.” Mississippi Legislature Bill Status, 2024. https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2019/html/HB/1300-1399/HB1347IN.htm.

“House Bill 235.” Mississippi Legislature Bill Status, 2024. https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2024/html/HB/0200-0299/HB0235IN.htm.

“Lawrence v. Texas.” Oyez, accessed March 6, 2025. https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/02-102.

“Mississippi State Profile.” Sex Ed for Social Change, May 8, 2024. https://siecus.org/stateprofiles/mississippi-state-profile-23/.

“Mississippi State Profile.” Sex Ed for Social Change, March 30, 2021. https://siecus.org/stateprofiles/mississippi-fy21-state- profile/#:~:text=Mississippi%20schools%20are%20required%20to,law%20related%20to% 20homosexual%20activity.

“Mississippi.” Center for Reproductive Rights, August 14, 2023. https://reproductiverights.org/maps/state/mississippi/.

“Mississippi: State Sex Education Policies and Requirements at a Glance.” Sex Education Collaborative, accessed March 6, 2025. https://sexeducationcollaborative.org/states/mississippi.