New York Senate 'Missed Mark' Not Passing Comprehensive Sex Education Bill, Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 04 Jul 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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The New York state Senate "clearly missed the mark" by not passing the Healthy Teens Act, which would make funding available for schools to provide comprehensive sex education, Claudia Gryvatz Copquin, author of "The Neighborhoods of Queens," writes in a Long Island Newsday opinion piece. According to Copquin, the legislation "shouldn't be controversial" and its passage in the state Legislature "ought to be a no-brainer."

The bill -- which is supported by 150 organizations -- has passed the Assembly with bipartisan support for four years in a row but has not made it out of the Senate Finance Committee, Copquin writes. According to Copquin, the bill did not advance for reasons that have "nothing at all to do with this ongoing debate ... or even finances," she adds.

Senate spokesperson Mark Hansen in a statement said, "Concerns have been raised about the bill duplicating existing school health curriculum, including HIV education efforts. Concerns have also been voiced about the impact of having another mandate on schools that could impact time spent on core subjects such as math and science." If "that's really what they think, the Senate has clearly missed the mark" because if a "school district applied for a Healthy Teens Act grant, it would mean they were seeking to fill an educational void on behalf of its students -- nothing else," Copquin writes.

All teens need the information in comprehensive sex education programs, she writes, adding, "If they can't obtain it from their parents or their school, they go to their friends or the Internet. Often, the answers they find there are simply wrong" (Copquin, Long Island Newsday, 7/2).

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