Texas lawmakers consider restrictions on teen birth control

[Britinme]

This is my first attempt to start a thread on Mumsnet so apologies if it's in the wrong place and mods please move if necessary.

Link - www.pressherald.com/2023/01/10/texas-lawmakers-consider-restrictions-on-teen-birth-control/

Texas’ abortion ban is one of the USA’s strictest, allowing no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. However, it is now reaching beyond abortion. A December ruling by a federal judge in Amarillo said that allowing minors to obtain free birth control without parental consent at federally funded clinics, under a program known as Title X, violated parental rights and state law.

I mean, teenagers are bound not to have sex in a state that bans abortions if they can't get access to birth control, right?

Is Texas sex ed still abstinence-only?

@BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn - the Texas State Board of Education has updated the health curriculum, including sexual health, for elementary and middle school students. The new curriculum started in the autumn of last year and includes detailed information about birth control and STIs for the first time.

However it's still abstinence first, and it's opt-in rather than opt-out, which obviously reduces the number of kids who actually get any sex education.

Teenage birth rates across the country have been declining since 2007, but Texas is routinely in the top ten states with the highest teen birth rate. Texas has 22.4 teen births per 1000 girls aged 15-19. California's has 11 per 1000 and Vermont has 7 per 1000, according to 2019 data from the CDC.