This essay was originally co-authored with Anna Miller and published at Idaho Freedom Foundation on October 31, 2022. Anna Miller is education policy director at the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s Center for American Education. Follow her on Twitter at @annakate_miller.

The Center for American Education has obtained a list of middle and high schools delivering Planned Parenthood-endorsed sex education curriculum known as Reducing the Risk (RTR) . According to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW), six out of seven of Idaho’s public health districts implemented the RTR program in 12 school districts. 14 schools are using RTR this year.

These schools include: Mountain View High School, Potlatch Jr. Sr. High School, Moscow Middle School (8th grade), Vallivue Academy, Union High School, Mt. Harrison Jr./Sr. High School, Filer High School, Hansen, Cornerstone and Wendell High School, Shoshone-Bannock jr/sr High School, Ririe Junior High School, Ririe High School, and Challis Jr. Sr. High School.

The program has grown from serving 588 students in 2016 to nearly 800 students in 2021. A total of 525 students and counting have been put through the RTR program in 2022 so far. 

Although RTR is designed for high schoolers, the IDHW reported to the federal government that it is being delivered to students as young as 12 in middle schools. The program is being offered in three middle schools and 11 high schools this year. 

Under Idaho law students can be put into the RTR program without parental notification or consent. However, even if a school district chose to notify parents, they would still be left in the dark by administrators claiming the program “teaches abstinence.”

The Reducing the Risk curriculum teaches what we call the New Abstinence, where abstinence is redefined to mean the promotion of sexual activity that reduces risk for pregnancy or STD/HIV. 

RTR’s New Abstinence includes teaching students about using sex toys, having anal sex with a condom, having oral sex using dental dams, and even, it seems, having unprotected sex, getting pregnant, and getting an abortion, all of which are promoted in the curriculum. Such things are being taught wherever schools and school districts use RTR curriculum, if the schools teach the whole curriculum. 

As you can see below, in one lesson students are given a handout promoting mutual masturbation, sexual fantasy, oral sex, and anal sex with a condom. Another lesson instructs students to call and visit a clinic, such as Planned Parenthood, to ask about sterilization, shop for condoms, and ask about abortion pills like Plan B. The IDHW program website even directs students to use Planned Parenthood clinics.

Furthermore, the new 5th Edition RTR curriculum is LGBTQ inclusive, instructing students in gender identity and sexual orientation. One common exercise used in RTR is forcing students to participate in gender neutral role plays of sexual encounters. 

Promoting transgender ideology, abortion, and high-risk sexual behaviors is not teaching abstinence. 

Health districts promote other graphic material into the RTR program as we have explained here, here, and here.

Idaho North Central Health District’s website, for instance, offered educators training on queering education and porn literacy. Another resource took kids to Power to Decide, showing kids where to get an abortion. Another resource, Love is Respect, showed kids how to hide their browsing history from parents and introduced topics like polyamory and gender transitions. The Sex, Etc. resource showed students articles such as Transgender Men Can Get Pregnant, Too, surveys about masturbation, and AMAZE.org videos featuring cartoon depictions of porn and abortion. 

These resources were removed from the health district’s website after we wrote about the issue. 

The promotion of radical gender theory in Idaho public schools is clearly not a fringe occurrence. The IDHW has been growing its program for seven years, serving more students each time. Shutting off the federal spigot keeping these programs alive should be the Legislature’s first step toward reform.