WHITESBURG, Ky. -- The traveling sex-education workshop that teaches about consent and anatomy in rural Appalachia has created a unique new online map that shows the locations of reproductive-justice-related organizations and health-care providers in the region.

Tanya Turner, who founded the group Sexy Sex Ed, said resources in rural Appalachia often are not included on national maps, which tend to focus on urban areas.

"We mapped all of the sexual health care and reproductive justice that we knew about going on in Appalachia," she said.

In 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found close to 40% of high school students nationwide reported having sexual intercourse.

Last month, a group of state lawmakers introduced House Bill 296, which would require all public school districts in the Commonwealth to provide comprehensive sex education to students and establish minimum standards for sex-ed instruction. Turner said she's encouraged by the legislation.

"I think this is a good step in the right direction," she said, "but from what I've seen of the coverage of the bill, a lot of the news coverage has been very 'click-baity' and wanting people to argue about it."

Turner said her organization now has more than a dozen student educators spanning five states.

"Peer-to-peer learning is the best, especially around issues like this that are historically difficult to talk about and have made young people feel really isolated," she said, "especially because so much sex ed has been fear- and shame-based."

As of 2015, fewer than 6% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students reported that their health classes
included positive representations of LGBT-related topics, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute.

The map is online at sexysexed.org, the text of HB 296 is at legislature.ky.gov, the CDC data is at cdc.gov, and the Guttmacher data is at guttmacher.org.


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A ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday will allow for abortions in emergency situations in Idaho - for now.

The justices said they were dismissing an appeal, reestablishing a lower court decision allowing hospitals to perform abortions in emergency cases, despite the state's restrictive abortion laws.

Molly Meegan, chief legal officer for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the organization is glad to see temporary relief in this case but added it is far from a complete solution.

"The way these laws are set up in Idaho and elsewhere are that there are limits on what care can be provided," Meegan explained. "Those limits are not clearly defined, and they're not committed to the discretion, the judgment, the expertise and the training of the physician that's facing a particular patient."

The protection for emergency abortions stems from a federal law known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. The law requires Medicare-funded hospitals to perform abortions in emergency situations. The three dissenting justices in Thursday's case called the Act's ability to preempt Idaho's restrictive abortion laws "plainly unsound."

Dr. Stella Dentas, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said there is still a lack of clarity around the law in Idaho and OB/GYNs are leaving the state as a result. She noted when doctors face the prospect of jail over restrictive laws like Idaho's, it makes their job more difficult in emergency situations.

"It's already hard enough to make these critical decisions in the moment," Dentas emphasized. "If you're stuck on, 'OK, I can go down path A, but I'm not allowed to go down path B,' that is very confusing for both clinicians and the patients and the shared decision-making that we do."

Meegan added legislators should not be determining what care is available to patients.

"These questions need to be decided by science, by evidence, by the individual case in front of you," Meegan contended. "The idea that you can have black and white worlds being created by people without the expertise, training or experiencing the emergencies is really fundamentally dangerous."


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A groundbreaking report from a team of Wayne State University researchers revealed fathers pass down more than genetics to their children. They are also sharing toxins.

The study found when adult male mice are exposed to a mix of old and new PFAS chemicals, it alters their sperm and affects the genes in their offspring's liver and fat. The substances have been widely used since the 1940s in consumer projects and industry.

Dr. Michael Petriello, toxicologist and assistant professor of environmental health sciences and pharmacology at Wayne State, worked on the study and said the results have been surprising.

"It was a such an interesting collaboration that I didn't know what to expect, because I had never done anything looking at paternal exposures," Petriello observed. "Every time that we expose these male mice, we see something - whether it's in the male themselves, or their offspring."

Studies show PFAS exposure also causes less testosterone in male rats and more estradiol, a female sex hormone. PFAS are a large group of synthetic chemicals resistant to oil, water and heat, giving them the nickname "forever chemicals."

Dr. Richard Pilsner, OB/GYN and professor of human growth and development at Wayne State, who co-authored the report, said while women often focus on their health before trying to become pregnant, planning is important for men too, and the three months before conception are most critical.

"During that period, it's very good to try and avoid environmental exposures and reduce your exposure to different factors that may negatively influence those sperm epigenetic patterns," Pilsner recommended.

DruAnne Maxwell, a doctoral student at Wayne State and co-author of the report, said she is grateful to Professors Pilsner and Petriello for what she called a revolutionary opportunity.

"PFAS, there's not a lot known about it, especially when it comes to reproductive science," Maxwell pointed out. "There's not a lot of emphasis on male contribution, and so we're trying to, like, turn the tides and show people that men do matter."

The team said more research is needed to understand how PFAS exposure before conception affects future generations.

The Illinois General Assembly has just passed a $53 billion state budget which includes a boost in funding for Planned Parenthood.

Reproductive rights may be in limbo across the country, but it is not the primary focus of the funding increase.

Katie Stanczykiewicz, director of government relations for Planned Parenthood Illinois Action, an independent advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, said reproductive health issues disproportionately affect people of color, and state lawmakers are paying attention.

"I think the additional funding that happened this year that's brand new, dealing with the Black maternal health crisis, is something that Planned Parenthood of Illinois cares deeply about," Stanczykiewicz pointed out. "It's very exciting to see not only the same amount of funding we've received for years before, but additional funding to address the maternal mortality rate that is plaguing our country."

According to a 2023 Illinois report, what's known as "extreme maternal morbidity" is most common among Black women, at a rate of 150 per 10,000 births, more than twice the rate among white women.

Abortion and reproductive rights remain high-profile issues in this election year, with legal actions nationwide to challenge or uphold a person's right to end a pregnancy. But Stanczykiewicz noted Planned Parenthood is committed to keeping all health centers open for patients in Illinois, and pointed out the clinics provide a range of services.

"Continuing to receive funds to not only help with our navigational services that we provide, to people who are coming to Illinois or coming within Illinois to receive abortion care, but also our gender-affirming care and our family planning services," Stanczykiewicz outlined.

She added clinic staffers still face harassment and threats, and some fear for their safety. A 2021 study reported an 80% increase in bomb threats and a 163% rise in devices or suspicious packages left at clinics providing abortion services.


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