Sex Ed Bill Passes Senate with ‘Contraception’ Acknowledged

The Tennessee Senate has passed a new set of definitions for public school sex education, with the proposal’s sponsor agreeing that it will still be okay to talk about contraception in class.

The new sex education definitions bill had been attacked in committee as being focused on “abstinence only.”

Senate sponsor Jack Johnson, a Williamson County Republican, says that’s not accurate.

“What we’re teaching, or what we’re hoping to teach in regard to this subject matter, is abstinence-based, or abstinence-centered. There is discussion of contraception, that is certainly permissible when this type of curriculum is presented.”

Memphis Democrat Beverly Marrero agrees that abstinence is the surest way to avoid both pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, but argues that stressing “Don’t Do It” may not reach the audience most at risk.

“I think that the young people who need education the most, are the young people that are not always heeding our advice.”

Marrero cast the only vote against the measure.

The House Education Committee will take up that chamber’s version of the bill next week.

WEB EXTRA
The bill, SB 3310 Johnson/HB 3621 Gotto, replaces three paragraphs in the current state law with nine pages of new definitions and rules. The new proposal even defines the word “puberty.”

The bill was rewritten in the Senate to broaden some definitions of sexual activity. The new amendment reads much like the old bill, except it deletes the words “penis” and “vagina” from the definition of “sexual intercourse.”

The Senate also added a further amendment defining “risk avoidance.”
specifically designating the “risk avoidance” means “an approach that encourages the prevention of participation in risk behaviors as opposed to merely reducing the consequences of those risk behaviors.”

The reference is apparently aimed at the post-activity procedure called “morning-after pills.”