I fight for sex education for all because I know what it's like first-hand to receive sex education that is inaccurate, stigmatizing, and doesn’t respect my personal autonomy.

As the COVID-19 crisis worsens and many are confined to their homes, blood bank supplies are running dangerously low. Organizations like the Red Cross have been forced to cancel thousands of blood drives, and are pleading for healthy people to donate blood.

I have told my abortion story many times, as a way to build community with other people who have had abortions and create empathy for the millions who need abortion care every year.

The decision of Ohio’s attorney general to force clinics to stop offering abortion care is unnecessary, opportunistic, and incredibly callous. Governor DeWine’s administration is using this opportunity to continue his extremist anti-abortion agenda, rather than truly looking out for public health and safety. 

Unlike some procedures, abortion is time-sensitive. It can’t simply be delayed. And with social distancing measures expected to last weeks and months, this decision should be called what it is: forced birth for thousands.

Today the Future of Sex Education (FoSE) Initiative, a partnership of Advocates for Youth, Answer, and SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change, released the second edition of The National Sex Education Standards: Core Content and Skills, K–12 to support educators in providing medically accurate, trauma-informed, inclusive sex education.