AI-assisted summary
In 2011, Mississippi law required public schools to teach either abstinence-only or abstinence-plus sex education.
Despite a significant drop in teen pregnancies since 2011, Mississippi still has the highest teen birth rate in the nation.
In 2023, a repealer clause was removed from the law, making the current abstinence-focused education standards permanent.
In 2011, the course of Mississippi's sex education shifted.
House Bill 999 , which became law after passing through the 2011 legislative session, requires each public school district to choose either abstinence-only or abstinence-plus, with the former stressed as the state standard.
At the time, Mississippi was No. 1 in the nation for teen births, with 51 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 giving birth, according