Senate approves sex-ed bill

OLYMPIA – In hours of emotional debate, the state Senate battled into the night Wednesday before voting to ban abstinence-only sex education in public schools.

Democrats called it a simple matter of public health – kids need complete, medically accurate information if they’re going to be spared teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. More than 80 percent of pregnancies for women 20 and under are unintended, said Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent.

“That’s because they are ignorant of how to avoid pregnancy,” she said. “That’s unconscionable. It costs us millions, and it causes so much pain.”

After nearly three and a half hours, the bill passed 30 to 19. It now heads to the House of Representatives.

Republicans and a few Democratic allies argued Wednesday night that banning abstinence-only instruction strips power from local school boards. They said the bill will force districts – unless they forsake sex education completely – to hew to state-written curriculum guidelines that one lawmaker called “repulsive.”

“No parent wants a fourth-grader to be talking about sex and anuses,” said Sen. Pam Roach, D-Auburn, citing a Bingo-style body-part game that’s included in one such curriculum.

“Let no one mistake what is happening here today,” Roach said at one point. “This is the agenda of the far left.”

Some Republicans predicted that the bill will backfire, with angry parents yanking their children out of classes they deem too explicit. Sen. Val Stevens, R-Arlington, read a letter from a high school girl who was offended at a lesson that included instruction in how to insert a female condom.

“The only person that I can think of that might benefit from such information might be a prostitute,” Stevens said.

Nearly 30 percent of the school districts in Washington teach abstinence-only curricula, according to a survey released last month by the Healthy Youth Alliance, a group backing comprehensive sex education.

Republicans repeatedly tried to amend the bill. Among the attempts: requiring parental permission and requiring school districts to have a public meeting each year to tell parents about the sex education curriculum.

“What are we trying to hide?” Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, said repeatedly.

Nothing, responded Senate Majority Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. Under current law, she said, parents can already go to school and review the sex-ed curriculum. She’s done so at her son’s school.

“The good senator needs to stop suggesting that anybody has anything to hide here,” said Brown, her voice rising in anger. “In fact, current law – and the very intent of this bill – is to stop hiding things from our children. To let them see the light of day with medically accurate information that will save their lives.”

Democrats stressed that the bill would not ban the teaching of abstinence. But it would prevent that from being the only thing taught.

“School districts can do whatever they want within the guidelines,” said Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell.

And under current law, parents can always opt their children out of sex education, they pointed out. That would remain unchanged.

The guidelines call for stressing that abstinence from sexual activity is the only sure way to avoid pregnancy and reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases.

Still, Republicans and some Democrats said that how to teach such a “volatile” topic should be left up to local school boards.

“I think this is all part of a very disturbing trend in Olympia this year,” said Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch. “We’re trying to centralize our power here.”

Sen. Jim Clements, R-Selah, called it a mistake not to require school districts to hold a public meeting for parents.

“I’ve been there,” said Clements, a former principal. “The test … is to look the mother and father right in the eye.”