Wisconsin Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, is currently circulating a bill that would remove the requirements for schools that offer a sexual health education program to teach about topics such as contraception and body image. Instead, it promotes abstinence-only sexual education. We feel that this bill will be a disservice to the children in Wisconsin public schools.
Lazich's bill alters the 2009 Healthy Youth Act, which sets sensible requirements for sexual education classes. Among other things, the Healthy Youth Act requires teaching about FDA-approved contraceptives, body image and other things that make socially conservative Wisconsin legislators squirm awkwardly in their seats. If Lazich's bill passes, it would remove some important curriculum requirements and instead ""recommend"" teaching abstinence as the ""only reliable way"" to avoid pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.
Lazich's bill would present local school districts with the option to refrain from teaching about any contraception. We think this is an undesirable option to give school districts. Sexual education is as important as any other part of education, and our public schools have a duty to prepare students for their futures. Many students will make the choice to engage in sexual activity. It is important to teach students about all of the safe and proven options to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Because of this, we believe schools across Wisconsin should continue to provide a comprehensive sexual education, at age-appropriate times. This should includes teaching about contraception.
Another misguided part of Lazich's bill would forbid community volunteers, namely Planned Parenthood, from teaching lessons in public schools. Lazich tries to frame her bill as a way to give more control to individual school districts, but this restriction goes directly against her narrative. Planned Parenthood provides important family planning lessons to students, and Lazich and her bill's supporters do not see this—they only see a place that provides abortions. However, banning an organization that specializes in sexual health and family planning from teaching about their expertise denies students a valuable education.
That said, we believe that parents should have the option to take their students out of these lessons. The Healthy Youth Act, which allows parents to file a request with a school's principal to exempt their student from sexual education lessons, already gives parents this option. Current law already mixes the ideal of having comprehensive sexual education lessons in Wisconsin's schools with the right of parents to exempt their children from these sensitive topics.
If parents are willing to go through the trouble of contacting the principal, we believe they are already active in their children's lives. Other parents, however, may not teach their children about sex. If schools do not offer comprehensive sexual education lessons, which could happen if Lazich's bill passes, then some students may never receive this information in an appropriate setting.
Lazich's bill would remove valuable requirements in public school sexual education. We feel that the current Healthy Youth Act provides students with a well-rounded sexual education and provides parents with the option to remove their children from these lessons. We hope the state legislature does not pass Lazich's bill and preserves the current requirements for teaching these valuable lessons.
