Sex Education in the Shadow of Dobbs: Autonomy, Consent, and Choice

On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization which held that the Constitution does not confer the right to an abortion and that the right to regulate abortion was a state legislative and congressional matter. The Dobbs ruling overturned the previous landmark decisions of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey and marked the first time that the Supreme Court had rolled back a civil right. What has emerged in the aftermath of Dobbs is a clash of sexual social contracts that revolve around a single question: Does a person with a uterus have the natural right to consent to be pregnant and give birth? How this question is answered has created an ideological spectrum that occupies the intersection of law, politics, morality, theology, and sex education. This book seeks to explore this intersection from a curriculum theory perspective.