Joy Whitten believes it’s time for the state to do away with the antiquated laws regarding sex education.
“When teens are given honest information, they make more responsible choices,” said Whitten, community specialist for the Planned Parenthood Mid-Michigan Alliance.
Whitten and the Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan are pushing for a bill requiring more medically accurate and age appropriate sex education in Michigan’s public schools.
Only the basics of reproduction, information about HIV/AIDS and abstinence messages are provided to Michigan’s K-12 students and is not complete, said Judy Karandjeff, executive director of the affiliates.
“It is important to teach young people to abstain from sex until they are mature, but ‘abstinence only’ education programs leave teenagers ill-prepared to protect themselves against unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease when they do become sexually active,” Karandjeff said.
“The vast majority of parents in the United States support comprehensive sexuality education and mistakenly believe that it is provided in public schools.”
Right to Life of Michigan and MSU Students for Life have not taken stances on the bill because neither group takes a position regarding contraception. Right to Life President Barbara Listing said the group only disagrees with teaching abortion as birth control.
The bill was introduced May 30 and was referred to the House Committee on Education. Committee Chairman Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, said the bill has not been discussed and is not likely to take action before the legislators break until September.
Despite this fact, history junior Nicole Knechtges is optimistic that the bill will pass.
“People’s opinions on sex education have changed,” she said. “People aren’t afraid that kids knowing more will lead to them being sexually irresponsible.
“I think, if anything, the last decades have shown that keeping kids in the dark has led to more bad than good.”
In a recent Lake Research poll, 85 percent of voters support required sex education in the schools. Only 19 percent support “abstinence only” instruction.
In recent years, condom use has risen and the rate of teen sexual activity has dropped, Whitten said.
“The result is a welcome decrease in teen pregnancy and teen births,” she said. “Elected officials opposed to sexuality education are out of touch with the views of the vast majority of Americans.”
Committee Chairman Tom Meyer, R-Bad Axe, said he supports increased sex education.
“I don’t think this is something we can just sweep under the rug,” he said.
“Teens are going to be sexually active, so they should have the wherewithal to prevent pregnancy and disease.”
