That being said, the rate of teen pregnancy (both in Texas and in the US) has been steadily declining for the past two decades. It appears as though teens are delaying sex or using contraceptives. What is causing this? It very well could have been the sex education that teens have been receiving, which "promotes abstinence but also contains information about contraceptives". Overall, this sex education is comprehensive; it presents abstinence as the best option, while acknowledging it is not the only option. And evidence shows that teen pregnancies have been declining as more and more teens are becoming educated.
Great news, right? Right. But, unfortunately, this is likely to change due to Senate Bill 521. Since 2009, parents have had an "opt-out" option of every sex education they didn't want their child to be a part of. But, this bill requires parents to "opt-in" for their child to participate in a sex education program at their school. The school must get written consent from the parent 2 weeks before the sex ed begins. This means that less teens are going to be receiving sex education simply because of paperwork, deadlines, and the forgetfulness of parents. Essentially, we are moving backwards.
This bill also "prohibits school districts from using sex education materials supplied by any organization affiliated or linked to abortion providers". This bill's main intent is prohibiting Planned Parenthood from supplying sex education material, but unfortunately, AISD is supplied with Planned Parenthood material.
Although, in theory, I might agree with the premise of this bill, prohibiting Planned Parenthood from teaching my child about sex (because in my mind, they are affiliated with abortions), in practice it doesn't make much sense. This is primarily because the instruction material that Planned Parenthood provides is comprehensive and promotes abstinence above anything else. It simply informs them of the other options available to them. This doesn't mean that teens will be more likely to get abortions once they know what it is- evidence actually shows that this means they'll be more like to not have sex in the first place. Isn't this what parents want?
Senate Bill 521 is going to result in less teens receiving sex education. It shouldn't come as a result to us that this is going to lead to rising teen pregnancy rates again. I believe that the Texas Senate should either revise or altogether trash SB 521 and leave sex education in schools the way it was before, because that was resulting in lower teen pregnancies. Afterall, this isn't about the ideological or cultural wars going on right now, between Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, those who believe in abortion and those who don't... this is about the lives of our teenagers and the well-being of our society as a whole.
Sources Used:
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/opinion/bill-a-step-backward-for-sex-education/nWzTY/
http://www.ehow.com/about_4616358_problems-teen-pregnancy.html
http://pregnancy.about.com/od/teenpregnancy/a/Teen-Pregnancy.htm
http://legiscan.com/TX/bill/SB521
I recently read my fellow classmate Abby’s blog about an attempt to limit Sex Education in our public schools. It mentioned how the few Texas public schools that did not preach abstinence-only are about to have an even more difficult time providing proper sex ed to students. According to Just Say Know, a campaign to enforce more comprehensive sex ed in Texas schools, Texas leads the nation in both teen abstinence-only programs and has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates. Abby does not mention the Just Say Know effort, but she does provide dozens of scary statistics about teen pregnancies and the obstacles public schools are having to face in order to provide comprehensive sex education. The blog focuses on Senate Bill 251, which would force parents to “opt in” to allow their children to participate in sex ed, and bars Planned Parenthood from providing any material for the class. Both of these obstacles make it not only harder for students to attend the class, but for teachers to properly educate the kids.
ReplyDeleteAbby does a great job of not coming off overly bias in this blog. She makes a thorough attempt to work across the aisle, pleading for both sides of the political spectrum to agree on the issue. Though she does come off as having a somewhat liberal base, it does not really show in this blog; her concern over our state’s education system is not politically motivated. She provides numerous examples and credible evidence for her case. It is chilling to think about the effects Senate Bill 251 will have on our the lives of this state’s children if it passes.
I will be commenting on Abby's post on Senate Bill 521. Her post was informative, well-written, and logical. I also agree with most of her points. All in all she had a very strong argument speaking against SB 521.
ReplyDeleteIn the first paragraph, Abby discusses the cost of teen pregnancies in Texas, including cost to taxpayers, problems in health for the teen mothers and children, as well as the negative effects on children produced by teens. A startling fact is that Texas is ranked 4th in the country for teen pregnancies.
With that being said, I actually disagreed with her approval of the current sex ed taught to Texas kids. It is barely comprehensive. From my personal experience, we were barely taught about contraceptives and basically told repeatedly that abstinence was the way to go. They also used scare tactics such as showing grisly photos of STDs to deter teens from having sex, as well as downplaying the effectiveness of contraceptives. (Ex. I had one instructor who told the class that even after his wife was on the Pill, using condoms and spermicide, that somehow his wife still got pregnant. Riiiiiiiiight.)
But, regardless of our disagreement on the effectiveness of the current Sex Ed program, I wholeheartedly agree with Abby on the fact that SB 521 is a terrible idea. Having parents fill out a form so they can opt their kids in is nonsensical, as many parents forget or fill out forms too late. Many teens will miss an important opportunity to learn about sexual health.