North Carolina Senate Delays Vote On Latest Version Of Sex Education Bill

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 16 Jun 2009 - 6:00 PDT

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The North Carolina Senate has delayed until Wednesday its vote on a bill (S. 221) that would require public school systems in the state to offer a sex education curriculum that includes information on both abstinence and prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, the Fayetteville Observer reports. Currently, most public schools in the state teach abstinence-only sex education (Fayetteville Observer, 6/11).

The bill, which a state Senate committee approved earlier in the week, made major changes to a state House version (H.B. 88) that conservative and liberals in the chamber approved as a compromise measure. The House bill would have required parents to choose from three sex education options: abstinence-only; an abstinence-based program with information on pregnancy and STI prevention; or no sex education. The third option would be the default if parents did not make a selection (Woolverton, Fayetteville Observer, 6/11).

The Senate version of the bill was designed to merge the abstinence-only and the abstinence-based comprehensive options of the House bill. Parents would be able to request that their children not receive the comprehensive portions of the lessons.

According to the Observer, some lawmakers objected to the idea in the House bill that students would receive no sex education if their parents failed to make a selection. In addition, some school officials voiced concern that the House version would require more teachers and classroom space to meet the requirements for three separate options (Fayetteville Observer, 6/11).

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