President Bush’s daughter Jenna appears to advocate comprehensive sex ed and contraception usage in her new book, despite the president’s support for abstinence-based sex education programs, according to The Drudge Report. Jenna’s new book, Ana’s Story, is a biography of a 17-year old HIV-positive mother.

There’s no pabulum about abstinence-only education from the young author whose dad funneled $50 million annually to such programs, despite a complete lack of evidence they work.

“Children need to be free to discuss all of life’s issues … with safe and trustworthy adults,” Jenna writes. “Equipped with information and knowledge, children can then take the steps necessary to protect themselves and to break the cycle that perpetuates abuse and spreads disease from one generation to the next.”

The Drudge Report’s review raises some interesting issues, including the question of whether children must necessarily adopt their parents’ views on social and moral issues. This reminds me of all the media attention several years ago surrounding the revelation that Mary Cheney, Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter, is gay, despite her father’s and the president’s opposition to many gay rights measures.

Is there any chance that Jenna Bush’s views on sex education would influence the president, or vice versa? If you’ve read Ana’s Story, do you agree that Jenna Bush seems to advocate comprehensive sex education?

The Guttmacher Institute’s October 2007 “State Policies in Brief” report provides a helpful overview of which U.S. states mandate sex education and what type of content is required if it’s taught.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• 20 states and the District of Columbia mandate that public schools teach sex education; many states, including several that do not mandate sex education, place requirements on how abstinence and contraception are treated when taught.
• 23 states require that abstinence be stressed when taught as part of sex education; 10 states require simply that it be covered during instruction.
• 15 states and the District of Columbia require that sex education programs cover contraception; no state requires that it be stressed.

My state, Illinois, does not mandate that sex education be taught. But if it is taught, abstinence is supposed to be stressed. What does your state mandate?