In 1988, the South Carolina legislature passed the Comprehensive
Health Education Act (CHEA) which was designed to standardize
health education instruction in the state in order to “reduce
substantially the amount of money the state spends to care for
teenage mothers and their often sickly babies.” We can argue
about the language and motives behind the legislation but the
process of standardizing how young people learn about health is
an important one that many states still have not undertaken.
South Carolina was certainly ahead of the curve passing such a
bill so long ago (I was still in high school in 1988), but 25
years later there are questions as to how effective the law has
been since sexual health statistics show South Carolina
struggling with teen birth rates and sexually transmitted
disease (STD) rates higher than the national average. A new
report assesses the current status of health education with a
focus on the reproductive health component. A Sterling
Opportunity: 25 Years After the Comprehensiv