The Pittsburgh school board has approved a “comprehensive” sex education program instead of an “abstinence only” policy.
Under the new policy, students will be taught about contraceptives, but birth-control devices will not be demonstrated or distributed. Parents will have the option of removing their children from sex education.
Officials say the district will still stress that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid pregnancy and some diseases, but the change is needed because the city’s teen-pregnancy rate is higher than the regional average.
