Comprehensive sex education programs can lead to an overall reduction in teen pregnancies, according to new research. In a study that spanned two decades, from 1996 to 2016, researchers from New York University (NYU) looked at federal funding for more comprehensive sex education that was received by a mix of public and private organizations in 55 U.S. counties. The study found that counties that implemented federally funded sex education programs in school curriculum had a 3 percent reduction in the overall rate of teen births. Authors of the study say their research provides population-level causal evidence and complements the mixed evidence to date from randomized control trials on teen pregnancies and births. “Sex education in the United States has been hotly debated among researchers, policy makers, and the public,” said Nicholas Mark, a doctoral candidate in New York University’s Department of Sociology and the lead author of the study, published …