North Carolina’s Healthy Youth Act takes effect this year, mandating a sex education program in the state’s schools, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports. While the program is focused on abstinence, it also includes information on contraception and sexually transmitted infections. Parents may choose to keep their children out of the program. The state’s teen pregnancy rate is consistently in the nation’s top 10. Thirty percent of girls in the state who drop out of school do so because of pregnancy or child care.

To read the Citizen-Times article, click here.