Planned Parenthood Launches Sex Ed To-Go

 Free Online Sex Education Classes for California Educators & Students in English & Spanish

SAN DIEGO — School- and community-based sex education programs have been impacted by the pandemic, leaving students without access to critical knowledge and support systems.

The same social distancing designed to keep us all safe makes it impossible for school classes and group programs to meet in person.  In addition, the strain on schools, health departments, and social services agencies to pivot to more immediate pandemic needs has drawn resources away from sex education and other health education programs.

In schools, students most greatly impacted are those in grades 7-9, as well as those in 5th grade puberty class. Many of these students will miss core knowledge provide for by the California Healthy Youth Act, including basic, medically accurate facts about abstinence, contraception, STI prevention, and healthy relationships.

Enacted Jan. 1, 2016, the California Healthy Youth Act has five primary purposes:

• To provide pupils with the knowledge and skills necessary to protect their sexual and reproductive health from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and from unintended pregnancy;
• To provide pupils with the knowledge and skills they need to develop healthy attitudes concerning adolescent growth and development, body image, gender, sexual orientation, relationships, marriage, and family;
• To promote understanding of sexuality as a normal part of human development;
• To ensure pupils receive integrated, comprehensive, accurate, and unbiased sexual health and HIV prevention instruction and provide educators with clear tools and guidance to accomplish that end;
• To provide pupils with the knowledge and skills necessary to have healthy, positive, and safe relationships and behaviors

To help fill the gap during the pandemic, Planned Parenthood this week launched a free sex education portal full of courses crafted specifically for California educators and students with a suite of age-appropriate, comprehensive, and medically accurate sex education courses in both English and Spanish.

Learn more about Sex Ed To-Go by clicking here.

“The pandemic makes it difficult for teachers to get the sex education training they need and for students to get the sex education they deserve, but Sex Ed To-Go makes it easy,” said Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest Director of Education Chrissy Cmorik.

Sex Ed To-Go includes two separate portals. The first portal features courses tailored for teachers and other youth-serving professionals and includes supporting educational materials.

Learn more about Sex Ed To-Go for educators by clicking here.

The second portal includes online courses designed specifically for students in middle school and above and includes comprehensive, medically-accurate information with age-appropriate language. Topics include anatomy and physiology, pregnancy prevention, sexually transmitted infections, how to access sexual and reproductive health care services in California, and how to use a condom.

Learn more about Sex Ed To-Go for students by clicking here,

Planned Parenthood’s Sex Ed To-Go was designed to meet the California Healthy Youth Act standards for sex education. The curriculum that Planned Parenthood provides has been proven to improve health outcomes for students including reducing the number of unintended pregnancies and the rate of sexually transmitted infections.

Planned Parenthood is a trusted source for sex education. For 25 years, its educators have trained all teachers who provide sexuality education in San Diego Unified, the fifth largest school district in the nation. Its educators have years of experience working in rural communities, with refugees, in foster care and shelters, and with charter schools.