As schools grow and STD rates rise, some state lawmakers want contraception taught in 6th grade.

Claudia Zequeira, Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
April 14, 2008

In theory, Florida's schools are supposed to teach sex education by promoting abstinence as the way to avoid pregnancy and disease.

But the reality of sex ed in Florida varies from school district to school district.

In Orange County, for example, schools teach students about condoms and birth-control pills.

In Osceola County, the curriculum is all abstinence all the time, with no mention of condoms.

The reason two neighboring school districts can teach sex ed so differently is because Florida law, while clearly preferring abstinence instruction, doesn't mandate it.

Two bills working their way through the Legislature would eliminate much of that ambiguity, mandating that, starting in the sixth grade, students must learn about contraceptives and "sexual decision-making."

The Healthy Teens Act, as the proposal is called, wants to ensure that students across the state receive "medically accurate" information, which includes birth control and ways to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases.

"My hope would be that when the Legislature has an opportunity to save lives, that it will do everything it can to make this [proposal] move forward," said the bill's main Senate sponsor, Ted Deutch, D- Boca Raton.

A law that in effect would liberalize sex education in Florida faces long odds in a conservative Legislature that's occupied with other issues, including a tight budget. The bill is not on any agenda in the House or Senate, though it earlier cleared the Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee. But recent research has renewed interest in a long-controversial subject.

Mathematica Policy Research, a social-policy research group, recently studied four abstinence programs and found they did not delay teen sex, though it also found students in such programs were not more likely to have sex, as some critics have maintained.

But a University of Florida study found that 13 percent of teachers whose jobs include teaching sex ed don't discuss the subject at all, and recommended a more complete sex-ed curriculum throughout Florida.

"At a time when one in four teens in the United States is infected with a sexually transmitted disease, we need to take our heads out of the sand and face reality," said Dr. Brian Dodge, the principal investigator of the study who is now with the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University. "Comprehensive sexuality education is that reality."

Despite the criticism of incomplete or inconsistent sex education, teen pregnancy has gone down significantly during the past decade. Proponents of the bills say that's primarily because teens are now more likely than ever to use birth control when they have sex, not just because fewer teens are having sex.

"It's the comprehensive-ed programs that are delaying teen sex," said Jenna Cawley, director of education for Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando. "Teens do not learn about birth control in abstinence classes."

But teen pregnancy also is down in counties such as Seminole and Polk, which offer abstinence-based programs. In most cases, abstinence-based means teachers stress the benefits of avoiding sex outside of marriage and forgo discussing the advantages of birth control in preventing diseases and pregnancy.

If they discuss contraceptives, it's often in the context of how likely they are to fail.

2 counties stress abstinence

Volusia and Osceola place a heavy emphasis on abstinence.

"Our district adopted an abstinence-only direction," said Susan McKay, who oversees health education for the Osceola school district. "So we chose a text that advocates for that and teaches for that."

As a result, condoms are not discussed in Osceola's classrooms. Neither is the fact that HIV, which can be transmitted sexually, can be prevented by using them.

McKay and other Central Florida educators who coordinate sex-education programs say they're giving parents, taxpayers and elected school boards what they want.

"I'm getting calls from parents saying they are happy with what we're teaching their children," said Bill Poniatowski, who oversees health programs for theVolusia County school district. "Until people ask for a change, we're not going to change."

Some parents tout prevention

Advocates who want to broaden sex education to include birth control point to studies that show overwhelming support among parents for a curriculum that includes information about disease prevention and birth control.

Cawley, of Planned Parenthood, cited a 2007 survey by pollster Hamilton Beattie & Staff, which showed 73 percent of Florida's registered voters want their children to learn about birth control and contraception.

Some counties have responded. Last summer, the Brevard County School Board voted to start teaching students about contraceptives and how they can protect against sexually transmitted diseases.

Orange County started teaching students about contraceptives and birth control in 1991 in response to the spread of AIDS, officials there said.

Kathy Bowman-Harrow, who coordinates health education in Orange County schools, said the curriculum presses an abstinence message but also gives students more information about birth control. She says it's a good balance.

"As always, research shows programs such as ours, which combines sexual abstinence . . . but also provide students with fact-based scientific information, are the most effective."

Abstinence backers speak up

Abstinence-only proponents disagree, saying students who hear about contraceptives in school might feel encouraged to have sex. The responsibility for that kind of instruction belongs with parents, they say.

Opponents to the bills already are lining up.

The Florida Catholic Conference has said it will take a stand against the bills. So will Pam Mullarkey, co-director of Project SOS, a pro-abstinence group based in Jacksonville.

"I will be contacting all legislators and educating them . . . on the bill," she said.

State Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, and chairman of the Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee, voted against the Senate version of the bill two weeks ago. The bill, however, passed that committee and has since been referred to the Senate's Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee. In the House, the bill has been referred to the Schools and Learning Council and to the Policy and Budget Council.

"The bill goes too far," Gaetz said. "I do not believe the public schools should be handing out birth-control information to 12-year-olds."