While Kansas has a lower teen pregnancy rates than most states, young women of color are disproportionately affected: young African American women and young Latinas are more than twice as likely to experience pregnancy as young white women. African Americans are also disproportionately affected by AIDS: they make up 20 percent of AIDS cases in the state, even though they make up only six percent of the population.

Sex Education Policy

Kansas requires sexuality education for students which includes medically accurate information about both abstinence and contraception.

Health Outcomes

Kansas has better teen pregnancy, HIV, and STI rates than the national average; its high school students who are sexually active were as likely as most students to use condoms the last time they had sex.

*Per 1000 young women ages 15-19
+Because of concern over recent changes in Chlamydia reporting and relative low incidence of syphilis, we used the state's gonorrhea rate as a stand-in for sexually transmitted infection rates.

Advocates' Partner Organizations

• ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri
• Planned Parenthood Advocates of Kansas and Mid-Missouri