After years of work, debate, and legislative battles, Alabama’s new sexual risk avoidance education law is now in effect. Greg welcomes State Representative Susan DuBose, Joy Wassil and Jason Mann of the Alabama Sexual Risk Avoidance Coalition,for an in-depth discussion about what the new law means for Alabama students, parents, schools, and communities. The guests explain why Alabama prohibited comprehensive sexual education and established sexual risk avoidance education as the required approach when schools choose to provide sex education. They discuss what sexual risk avoidance actually teaches—including physical, emotional, social, economic, educational, and spiritual aspects of healthy decision-making—and address common questions about abstinence, contraception, online safety, sexting, pornography, human trafficking, and social media. The conversation also examines Alabama’s Success Sequence—graduating from high school, entering the workforce, getting married, and then having children—and why supporters believe teaching these principles can help students make decisions that improve their long-term opportunities. Representative DuBose recounts the three-year legislative effort behind the law, including visiting classrooms and seeing firsthand the questions and challenges facing Alabama students. Joy Wasil and Jason Mann also discuss the role of pregnancy resource centers and professionally trained sexual risk avoidance educators, as well as preliminary results from student programs in Alabama. Then comes a major announcement: Huntsville Pregnancy Resource Center’s Respect You SRAE program has received approximately $360,000 annually for three years in federal funding, allowing the program to expand its reach across Madison, Morgan, Marshall, and Limestone counties. The discussion also explores what parents, churches, community leaders, and local advocates can do to help ensure the new law is properly implemented and that Alabama students have access to sexual risk avoidance education. A timely conversation about children, parental involvement, education, public policy, and the values shaping Alabama’s next generation.
