Indiana lawmakers removed consent education from state sex ed laws. Here’s why that’s dangerous — and how SafeBAE is working nationally to protect students.

In April 2025, Indiana lawmakers quietly made a dangerous change to the state’s sex education legislation: they removed the requirement for schools to teach about consent. Senate Bill 442, originally drafted with language that mandated instruction on the importance of consent to sexual activity, was amended in a closed-door committee meeting to eliminate that key provision. This move has sparked concern from educators, health professionals, and youth advocates across the country, and it raises an urgent question: Why is consent education being removed from sex ed laws?

As one of the most foundational aspects of healthy relationships and violence prevention, consent education is not optional — it’s essential. Yet increasingly, conservative lawmakers are targeting consent and boundary education as part of a broader rollback of inclusive, fact-based health curricula. The Indiana bill is only the most recent and visible example.

The Dangerous Impact of Removing Consent Education

Removing consent education from schools doesn’t just set students up to fail — it sets them up to be harmed. According to the CDC, rates of sexual violence and suicidal ideation are rising among young people, particularly teenage girls. These realities make education around boundaries, bodily autonomy, and respectful relationships more critical than ever.

Without consent education, students are left vulnerable. They may not know how to recognize coercion. They may not understand that they have the right to say no — or that their partner does. They may not know what a healthy relationship looks like at all. And without a shared understanding of these concepts, schools lose one of the most powerful tools in violence prevention.

Opponents of consent education often argue that such topics are too mature or political for students, but that rhetoric ignores the lived reality of young people. Most teenagers are already navigating dating and relationships. Teaching them about consent doesn’t encourage sexual activity — it makes it safer, healthier, and more respectful.

How This Policy Shift Hurts Indiana’s Students

In Indiana, over half of high school students report being sexually active before graduation. Despite this, lawmakers chose to eliminate the most protective, informative part of sex ed. The revised Senate Bill 442 still mandates that schools publish their sex ed materials and show students an ultrasound video of fetal development — but makes no mention of consent.

This prioritization of political ideology over public health leaves students without the information they need to protect themselves and others. And it sends a chilling message: that student safety is secondary to political optics.

This shift also disproportionately impacts LGBTQ+ youth, students of color, and disabled students — all of whom experience higher rates of sexual violence and are less likely to receive culturally competent support. When lawmakers strip away tools like consent education, it’s marginalized youth who suffer the most.

SafeBAE’s National Fight for Consent Education

At SafeBAE, we’ve spent nearly a decade advocating for consent education as a foundational part of school safety. Our youth-led programs have trained thousands of students across the country through:

• The Peer Educator Training Program
• The Summer Activist Institute
• Our Whole-School Approach to dating violence prevention

We know that prevention works. We’ve seen it firsthand. Students who are given the tools to understand consent, boundaries, and respectful relationships are more confident, more informed, and more likely to intervene when they see harm happening.

That’s why we’re fighting back — not just in Indiana, but everywhere. SafeBAE provides free, accessible resources to help students, parents, and educators advocate for real prevention in their communities. You can explore our full library of survivor-created tools at safebae.org.

Reach out directly at info@safebae.org