THE DAILY REPORT
STATE POLITICS & POLICY | North Carolina Senate Delays Vote on Latest Version of Sex Education Bill
[June 15, 2009]

The North Carolina Senate has delayed until Wednesday its vote on a bill (S. 221) that would require public school systems in the state to offer a sex education curriculum that includes information on both abstinence and prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, the Fayetteville Observer reports. Currently, most public schools in the state teach abstinence-only sex education (Fayetteville Observer, 6/11).

The bill, which a state Senate committee approved earlier in the week, made major changes to a state House version (H.B. 88) that conservative and liberals in the chamber approved as a compromise measure. The House bill would have required parents to choose from three sex education options: abstinence-only; an abstinence-based program with information on pregnancy and STI prevention; or no sex education. The third option would be the default if parents did not make a selection (Woolverton, Fayetteville Observer, 6/11).

The Senate version of the bill was designed to merge the abstinence-only and the abstinence-based comprehensive options of the House bill. Parents would be able to request that their children not receive the comprehensive portions of the lessons.

According to the Observer, some lawmakers objected to the idea in the House bill that students would receive no sex education if their parents failed to make a selection. In addition, some school officials voiced concern that the House version would require more teachers and classroom space to meet the requirements for three separate options (Fayetteville Observer, 6/11).





The information contained in this publication reflects media coverage of women’s health issues and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

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The Editors

Debra Ness, publisher & president, National Partnership

Andrea Friedman, associate editor & director of reproductive health programs, National Partnership

Marya Torrez, associate editor & senior reproductive health policy counsel, National Partnership

Melissa Safford, associate editor & policy advocate for reproductive health, National Partnership

Perry Sacks, assistant editor & health program associate, National Partnership

Cindy Romero, assistant editor & communications assistant, National Partnership

Justyn Ware, editor

Amanda Wolfe, editor-in-chief

Heather Drost, Hanna Jaquith, Marcelle Maginnis, Ashley Marchand and Michelle Stuckey, staff writers

Tucker Ball, director of new media, National Partnership