Much of the controversy surrounding sex ed concerns whether or not sex ed is effective in preventing unwanted teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Despite the growing program, the U.S. still has the highest teen birth rate and one the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections among teen in industrialized countries. Groups that advocate for comprehensive sex education (mainly health and medical institutions) argue that sexual behavior after puberty is pretty much guaranteed and therefore it is necessary to provide information about the risks of sex and how they can be minimized.
The impact of abstinence-only education remains unknown. To date, no published studies of abstinence-only programs have been found to be consistent and the only significant effect is delaying the onset of intercourse. The U.S. Congress has ordered a study to determine whether or not such programs were effective only to discover that middle school students who took part in abstinence-only programs were just as likely to have sex and use contraception in as teenagers as those who did not participate in the programs. On the other hand, the study may have been flawed because it was too narrow and began when the abstinence-only curriculum was in its infancy. Abstinence-only programs have also shown to produce positive effects for other studies.
Another major source of controversy in sex education is whether or not Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) education should be integrated into the course curriculum. LGBT sex education includes the safe sex curricula for all gender as well as sexual orientation. Supporters of LGBT claims that encompassing all gender and sexual identification would provide LGBT students with the health information they need and prevent low self-esteem, depression, bullying and in severe cases suicide. However, many conservative states who do not recognize LGBT rights and legal marriage are against this idea, claiming that such a thing is immoral and corrupts the young.