Members of Wisconsin health organizations scrutinized a bill that would overhaul the state's sex education curriculum, during a Senate Education Committee hearing Wednesday.
The bill would repeal Wisconsin's Healthy Youth Act, which requires schools with sexual education programs to include information about contraception to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy.
The sponsors of the bill, state Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, and state Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, R-Fond du Lac, say it gives parents and school district officials more control over their sexual education curriculum.
State Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, said ""teen pregnancy prevention efforts [would] be set back decades"" if the bill passes.
""Rather than helping students develop skills and giving them information to avoid unintended pregnancies and disease… it completely eliminates current provisions that focus on skills each student needs to develop to make responsible decisions about sexuality and sexual behavior throughout a student's life,"" Taylor said in a statement.
But Julaine Appling, president of the Wisconsin Family Action, said the bill puts decision-making power back into the hands of parents and community members.
""This is a bill predicated on the notion that parents, community members, and school district officials know better than Madison does about what is in the best interest of their students,"" Appling said in a statement.
