With the holiday of Shavuot (Pentecost) almost upon us we dfind ourselves out of time to write an editorial.
So we lend our space to our good friend Janine Hansen.
By Janine Hansen
Every county in Nevada has been teaching sex education since the 1980’s. The State formula has been particularly suited to this sensitive subject. Local elected County School Boards select an Advisory Committee made up of local parents and people from medicine, nursing, counseling, religion, teaching and pupils in the district to design and continually update the curriculum.
Sex Ed is taught by a teacher or school nurse who works for the district and whose qualifications have been approved by the School Board. This has worked well because those teaching are accountable to the School District. More importantly, teen pregnancy rates in Nevada have been going down.
Parents have been involved not only on the Advisory Committee, but also because they are required to “opt in” their children to the program. This maintains the important presumption that parents have the right to decide. I am sure this has initiated many engaging conversations around the dinner table. Most parents, 95-98%, have opted to have their children participate, so apparently they have been satisfied with the program.
AB230 Planned Parenthood’s Sex Education bill changes all of that. AB230 takes the program out of the hands of local elected School Boards and parents and mandates that the “course of instruction must comply with the standards of content and performance…established by the Council to Establish Academic Standards for Public Schools.” I doubt any local parent has ever attended one of these state meetings. Many parents have attended their local Advisory Committee meetings. It does however make it easier to mandate PP’s agenda.
AB230 makes the local parents and the Advisory Committees superfluous and irrelevant. It changes local control into an illusion as it mandates a “comprehensive” (sex A to Z) course of instruction based on Planned Parenthood’s agenda. And make no mistake, it is Planned Parenthood’s agenda in AB230.
Planned Parenthood is the largest single abortion provider in the nation. In 2009, PP performed 332,278 abortions deriving $164,154,000 or 15% of its revenue from abortions. In contrast, PP provided prenatal care to only 31,098 women and referred only 841 women to adoption agencies. The statistics are startling. Of the pregnant women PP saw in 2010, 91.2% got abortions.
Planned Parenthood’s annual report for 2010 reveals that 46% of their revenue comes from taxpayers funding at the national, state or local level, to the tune of $350 million. Contraceptives accounts for 35% of PP’s services.
SB230 opens a wide door allowing outside “providers of health care” into the classroom including Advocates of Planned Parenthood. It writes the PP agenda into state law and then mandates it to local districts. But perhaps worst of all, SB230 provides for the “identification and explanation of available counseling and legal and medical information concerning health services…without limitation”. AB230 is a gold mine for Planned Parenthood and allows them to mine our schools for new clients.
We ought to be honest with our children and tell them that behavior has consequences. Contraceptive devices and abortions won’t protect our children from broken hearts, epidemic Sexually Transmitted Infections, and the lifelong consequences of premature sexual activity. Do not open our children to further exploitation by passing AB230.