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Sex ed classes should be religion-free, says ACLU
Filed under: Health & Safety: Babies, Media
The American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) wants to keep religion and ideology out of your kids' sex education classes. The ACLU announced on
Wednesday the launch of a nationwide call-to-action, Not in My State. ACLU affiliates in 18 states are sending letters
to local officials asking that federally-funded sex education curricula with abstinence-only curricula be pulled from
classrooms. Officials are being asked to select only materials that teach medically-accurate information unbiased by
religious views or ideologies.
Not in My State is part of a larger ACLU campaign targeting issues of reproductive freedom. The ACLU website points to two stories of women who have worked to keep abstinence-only programs out of federally-funded public school settings. Renee Walker from Concord, CA, fought to get an abstinence-only program called CryBabies out of California schools, after her son took what Walker thought was going to be a scientifically based sex-ed program at his school. The program, it turned out, was sponsored by an anti-abortion pregnancy crisis center, and pressured kids to sign abstinence-pledge cards, showing them pictures of diseased genitalia and failing to teach about contraception at all.
For Sue Briss from Georgia, the red flag was raised when she attended a meeting to introduce an abstinence-only sex ed program called Choosing the Best. She and a group of other concerned parents investigated the program and raised issues not only about its content, but also about privacy concerns - the workbook for the course asked students all kinds of personal questions about their family life and personal habits. Briss and her fellow parents formed a group called Georgia Parents for Responsible Health Education, which advocates for comprehensive sex ed programs in Georgia schools.
What’s going on with sex education in your neck of the woods? Does your district teach a scientifically accurate curriculum? Does your school’s sex ed program pressure students to sign abstinence pledges?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
12-18-2005 @ 7:13PM
Ann Adams said...http://www.prochoicecalifornia.org/s01takeaction/200501111.shtml
The link gives you a good overview of CA. The state turned down federal funding rather than teach abstinence only and so, I think, did Maine and maybe one other.
The 5th grade curriculum was accurate but very general and the classes were separated by sex. Elcie already knew most of it. Okay with me - kids are easily flustered at that age. Planned Parenthood goes into the high schools here so I'm sure it's accurate. Our religious right doesn't approve (to the point of smashing windshields and even threats of physical harm) but I do.
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12-18-2005 @ 7:13PM
probed said...I agree that religion should be kept out of sex education. Kids should be given the most accurate information in order for them to make the best choices. Simply telling them not to do it often does the opposite. Learning about how the body works is essential. Also, learning about the risks involved with having sex is very important, and protection methods if they so choose to do it. And they most likely will choose to do it, despite parental protests. Education is the key. Proper education.
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12-18-2005 @ 7:13PM
IATC said...To the ACLU, sex education is inseparable from pornography and abortion on demand.
The anti-abstinence movement is financed by pro-prostitution radicals.
Whether children learn sex-ed from parents or the pornography industry is the prize.
NAMBLA is also a sex-ed affiliate of the ACLU after a fashion it must be said.
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12-18-2005 @ 7:13PM
Brenda said...Abstinence only programmes have led to an alarming increase in oral sex among younger, and younger children. Teaching abstinence is fine, as long as you explain what you want them to abstain from, otherwise you might as well teach "Nice people don't talk about sex at school, at home, at church or with their doctor", it would have the same effect.
That being said, I would like to make clear I support balanced sex education. Not abstinence only, nor pro-abortions, or anti-abortion. While I am sure the ACLU supports pornography as a freedom of speech issue, I am sure they do not address pornography in their sex ed curricula as it is beyond the scope of those classes.
IATC, if you want to imply that the ACLU has anything to say about pornography or prostitution in the sex-ed curricula it supports, perhaps you should provide some evidence.
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