TAKE ACTION NOW! Please write to your MP and urge them to vote against the proposals.

What’s happening?

On 20 January, Nadine Dorries MP’s Sex Education (Required Content) Bill, which would introduce abstinence-only education for girls, is due to have its second reading in the House of Commons.

In May 2011 MPs voted the Bill through its first reading by 67 votes to 61, and it is vital that the Bill does not pass this next stage.

What’s the problem?

All the best evidence tells us that abstinence-only education, which exclusively teaches sexual abstinence until marriage, does not work. It is an ideological (and often religious) view,  which is not supported by most sexual health experts, educationalists, teachers, parents, or children’s rights organisations, who want to see high quality, comprehensive and objective Sex and Relationships Education taught in schools.

The evidence on abstinence education does not stop people having sex. But it can foster ‘dangerous levels of ignorance’ in relation to condom use and transmission of sexually transmitted infection, it does not cut unwanted pregnancy rates, and does not equip young people with the information they need to make safe and informed decisions about their relationships.

By focusing only on girls, the Bill fails to acknowledge that safe, healthy sex is a shared decision that must be consented to by all parties. It negates and overlooks the important role of boys and young men in forming safe, fulfilling and consensual sexual relationships.

Good, high quality Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) should include education about waiting before sex, the importance of safe sex and of sexual consent, and must be broad, fact-based and for all young people, regardless of gender or type of school.

Via The British Humanist Association