Massachusetts public schools may have to teach more than just abstinence as they see changes in the way parents can control what their children learn, as part of bills heard Tuesday morning at the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education.
Bills proposed by Rep. James O’Day, D-West Boylston, and Sen. Katherine Clark, D-Melrose, would require all Massachusetts school districts that currently offer sexual education to offer a curriculum that includes options other than chastity.
A separate bill proposed by Rep. Marc Lombardo, R-Billerica, would make parental consent mandatory for any student in a sexual health class.
O’Day and Clark were quick to say their legislation was not a mandate.
“We are not ramming this down anyone’s throat,” O’Day said. “They can certainly include abstinence in the curriculum, but that can’t be the only thing they teach. It has to be comprehensive. That is not doing our adolescents any help.”
He added that any school districts not currently offering sexual education would not be required to do so.
The committee heard over three hours of testimony that included multiple anti-homosexual and anti-abortion groups.
“It’s not sufficient to opt out. I want to have the opt-in,” said Billerica resident Brad Porter. “The bills that are being led by the top down do not include the health risks. Let’s be honest, there are risks to homosexuality.”
Maureen Vacca, a registered lobbyist with the conservative Massachusetts Family Institute, said that sexual health curriculum that includes “sexual reproduction and family life imposes a particular world view which violates the constitutional right of parents to protect their children from a radical agenda.”
Robin Laconte of reproductive health services provider Health Quarters voiced her support for comprehensive sexual education in schools.
“They’re not getting what they need,” she said. “They are kind of getting the biology, but they are not getting the meaningful information about sexual decisions and relationships.”
O’Day said he was unsure as to the exact number of school districts that are currently offering abstinence-only education, but that there were enough to warrant consideration by the State House.
“I think it may be more school districts that would be affected than those that wouldn’t,” he said.
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