A state measure that looks to revamp sex education in Illinois’
public schools was approved in the House last month and could possibly
go up for a full Senate vote this week.
The bill, HB 2675,
would require schools with sex education classes for grades 6 through
12 to stress abstinence, but also incorporate contraception into the discussion. Schools would also be required to provide students with information on how to avoid contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
Under the measure, schools currently
teaching sex education would also have to adopt medically-accurate and
evidence-based information into lesson plans.
As it stands now, those components are
not part of the Illinois School Code related to sexual health
education, said Joy Messinger, deputy director of the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health.
“That
piece is extremely important,” Messinger said. “We believe, and we know
based on lots and lots of research, that abstinence-only until marriage
education is ineffective, and it often presents an inaccurate view of
sexual health.”
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