Ohio, one of a handful of states without comprehensive sex education taught in schools, has a higher teen birth rate than the national average.

The national birth rate for females 15-19 years old was 13.1 per 1,000 females and Ohio’s teen birth rate is 14.6 per 1,000 females in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than half (61%) of Ohio’s chlamydia cases in 2023 were people between the ages of 15-24, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Ohio’s syphilis rate (16.3 per 100,000) was higher than the national average (15.8 per 100,000) in 2023, according to the CDC.

“What we’ve seen is states that have no sex ed or poor sex ed policies, they typically fare worse on health indicators such as (sexually transmitted infections) rates, teen birth rates, having lower contraceptive knowledge, and other existing health disparities,” said Nawal Umar, senior policy analyst for Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).

“These states are also putting their young people at higher risk for sexual violence victimization and having poor mental health outcomes because sex education provides really critical instruction, consent and communication and healthy relationships and so much more,” Umar said.

Ohio’s curriculum stresses abstinence as a general policy and requires some instruction about sexually transmitted infections, according to the Ohio Revised Code.

Schools are required to “emphasize adoption as an option to unintended pregnancies” and “teach the potential physical, psychological, emotional, and social side effects” of sex outside of marriage, according to Ohio’s law.

Because Ohio lacks comprehensive sex education, it’s ultimately up to each school district on how they decide to teach it.

“When there’s not a sex education policy in place at the state level, one of the major consequences of that is that teens across the state can have very diverse experiences when it comes to the kind of instruction they’re receiving about their bodies because there’s a lack of uniform policy,” Umar said.

The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce is required to conduct an annual audit to ensure school districts are in compliance with the state’s law.