According to a new survey, overwhelming numbers of parents of school-age children support North Carolina's sex education and pregnancy prevention laws. 

On February 13, 2013, youth, parents, and youth-serving professionals from across North Carolina will visit the North Carolina General Assembly in Raleigh for Adolescent Health Advocacy Day. Youth will talk to their legislators about a range of  adolescent health issues. These issue papers have been developed by the 2013 Adolescent Health Advocacy Day planning committee: 

Student Well-Being and Mental Health

Access to Care

Teen Pregnancy Prevention

According to Math: Tackling Tough Numbers to Reduce Teen Pregnancy examines the biggest issues North Carolina will need to address to reach the state's goal to reduce teen pregnancy 30% by 2020. Released in January 2013, the report is a benchmark addendum to the 2012 North Carolina State of Adolescent Sexual Health & Action Plan. 

According to Math: Tackling Tough Numbers to Reduce Teen Pregnancy

Download Knowledge to Action: Helping Teens Access Health Services

Knowledge to Action: Helping Teens Access Health Services is a new lesson plan for use with evidence-based and promising programs. When added as an additional module, the lesson aims to help participants: 

• Understand their rights to consent to medical services in North Carolina
• Understand how to navigate health care systems and paying for health care
• Practice setting an appointment
• Practice talking to a doctor about their health needs and concerns

Knowledge to Action can be successfully implemented with both comprehensive and abstinence-only programs. 

Click here to download the 2011 Annual Report.

Click here to download the North Carolina State of Adolescent Sexual Health and Action Plan.

After the passage of the 2009 Healthy Youth Act, APPCNC published this guide to help local schools understand the new law and how to implement it in effective ways. 

Click here to download the Local Schools Implementation Guidebook. 

Many people simply expect controversy when talking about sexuality education. In fact, many schools often city fear of controversy – not actual controversy or content – as a reason not to teach sexuality education. So, we posed the question: 

What do parents want their children to learn about sex in school? 

We partnered with the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to conduct a survey of parents of NC public schoolchildren. Conducted between November 2008 and January 2009, the survey asked a random sample of parents about their views on sexuality education, what should be taught, when teaching should commence and how long it should last, and other topics.

2009 Parent Opinion Survey Full Report

Key findings: 

• 91.8% of parents thought sexuality education should be taught in public schools;
• Two-thirds of parents thought sexuality education should start by the 6th grade; and
• More than 60% of parents thought students should receive at least 18 hours or more per year of sexuality education in high school. 

The survey asked parents whether or not they wanted specific topics included in public school teaching of sexuality education. More than 95% of parents thought sexuality education should include the following items:

• Transmission and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (99.6%)
• Transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS (99.5%)
• What to do if one has been raped or sexually assaulted (99.4%)
• The basics of reproduction or how babies are made, pregnancy, and birth (98.6%)
• How to deal with pressure to have sex (99.4%)
• How to talk with a girlfriend, boyfriend, or partner about not having sex (98.2%)
• How to talk with parents about sex and relationship issues (98.7%)
• How to deal with the emotional issues and consequences of being sexually active (97.8%)
• How to talk with a girlfriend, boyfriend, or partner about birth control and sexually transmitted diseases (97.1%)
• Waiting to have sex until after graduating from high school (96.2%)
• Effectiveness and failure rates of birth control methods, including condoms (97.1%)