With the passage of a new sex-education bill in Colorado this year, the state joined a short list of others requiring schools to teach more than just abstinence. Iowa and Washington passed laws similar to Colorado’s this year to make sex-ed classes include “science-based” (aka contraception) information, according to Stateline.org.
The article says Colorado is just one of six states “with a strong definition of “medical accuracy” written into their sex-education laws.”
From the Stateline article:
Abstinence-only proponents scored their own legislative victory this year: Missouri, which currently requires that comprehensive information be taught, is expected to roll that back with a bill the General Assembly sent to Gov. Matt Blunt (R) that would let districts decide what kind of program to offer. The bill also would ban instructors from groups that provide or refer people to abortion services from teaching in public schools, meaning that sex educators from family planning organizations such as Planned Parenthood would be disqualified.
But that was the exception. Because of last year’s elections, the sex-education landscape has changed significantly.
Colorado state Rep. Nancy Todd (D), a former teacher, said she waited three years to propose her bill because she was certain the previous Republican governor, Bill Owens, would have vetoed it, while new Gov. Bill Ritter (D) made pregnancy prevention part of his campaign platform.
