The State Board of Education is asking the governor to veto a bill that would allow only abstinence to be taught in sex education.
The state school board passed a resolution Tuesday encouraging Gov. Mike Leavitt to veto the bill, which would ban discussion of contraceptives for pregnancy and disease prevention. The school board, which called the bill unnecessary, reaffirmed that teaching abstinence is top priority and that it stands behind the state health core curriculum revised last year."We've already studied this, and this would destroy (the curriculum)," board member Denis Morrill said.
But bill sponsor Rep. Bill Wright, R-Elberta, says the legislation will protect Utah children.
"It kind of shows you where (the state board is) at on educating our children. I think they're following a (national) agenda . . . which promotes sex to children in the schools and all kinds of other lifestyles I think is inappropriate," Wright said. "I think the governor is going to have to make a choice whether he wants to continue to infiltrate the hearts and minds of our children . . . or make a stand."
Doug Bates, law and legislation director for the State Office of Education, says Wright's bill is fraught with inconsistencies. For instance, the bill states only abstinence, fidelity in marriage and illegality of fornication can be discussed in human sexuality lessons. Talk about condoms or other methods to prevent sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy would not be allowed.
But the bill goes on to say that teachers must explain "the failure of contraceptives as a protective strategy." And that, Bates says, opens the door to talk about what the other methods are.
"We'd prefer the bill be vetoed and have the Legislature say what it really wants to say rather than leave things up in the air like they are," Bates said.
Leavitt has not decided his next step on the bill, said spokeswoman Vicki Varela.
The bill has created a firestorm of discussion. Supporters say proper abstinence education will reduce unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted disease and bolster respect for sexual relations within marriage. They also say the bill reaffirms the state's intent and what is supposed to be stressed in class anyway.
"No one is telling them to change the curriculum," which is supposed to be abstinence only, Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka said, adding school board members need to brush up on the curriculum. "Those teaching the curriculum just need to know they cannot teach . . . disease prevention using condoms that don't work anyway."
But opponents say axing discussion of contraceptives leaves teens at higher risk for teen pregnancy -- Utah has one of the nation's highest rates -- sexually transmitted diseases and even death.
The Utah Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has threatened a legal challenge if the bill becomes law. And Utah Children, a children's advocacy group, also has expressed concerns.
"Curriculum is far better studied by the specialists and adopted by the appropriate processes of a board of education," said Utah Children executive director Roz McGee. "It was a bill that was Johnny-come-lately without adequate deliberation."
Sen. Peter Knudson, R-Brigham City, who hesitantly voted for the bill, now has second thoughts. He has learned an onslaught of e-mail urging support of the bill came exclusively from Eagle Forum members instead a cross-section of constituents.
"I've never been afraid of education and teaching the things in life that protect people from mistakes and so forth. So I've struggled with the issue, really," Knudson said. "I would not be unhappy if the governor vetoed it."
But Ruzicka says the Eagle Forum doesn't have that many members and that Knudson received correspondence from those outside its ranks.
"If someone read about it in the newspaper and called, I guess he thinks it's valid. But if it comes from the Eagle Forum, it's not," Ruzicka said. "What are we? Do we have the plague or something?"
At any rate, the State Office of Education probably will remove references to contraception in the health curriculum if the bill becomes law, Bates said.
"We'll just try to teach a very strong abstinence-only curriculum," he said. "We know what Bill Wright wanted to do, and we will try to implement what Bill Wright wanted to do."