A move by Iowa lawmakers to lift the mandate for schools to teach about HPV (human papillomavirus) and AIDS leads to questions about the consequences.
EyesOpenIowa provides resources for schools to teach sex education. Executive Director Kristin Fairholm says that work training teachers and structuring curriculum resulted in a 23% drop in teenage birth rates from 2016-2020. Fairholm says she worries that could reverse, adding that lifting the mandate is concerning because Iowa recently ranked second in growing cancer rates. Iowa is the only state with an increase in HOV-related cancers.
The health curriculum typically takes place during the second semester of the school year in Iowa.
