By Denise-Marie Balona

Orlando Sentinel, July 17, 2008

Volusia County schools teach students that sex is risky, and abstinence is best.

But the American Civil Liberties Union wants schools to abandon the wait-until-marriage message and tell students how to prevent pregnancy and disease.

Some parents and educators think that makes sense when a recent study by a policy research group shows abstinence-only programs don't work. But it's a proposition sure to draw ire from many local families, church communities and others.

After ACLU lobbying, the Brevard school district now teaches high-schoolers about birth control. But it still touts abstinence as the "expected standard."

The civil-liberties group recently said it's focusing on Volusia next.

Pat Westbrook, a mother of two who helped lead the abstinence-only move in Volusia in late 1980, called the proposed changes "disgusting." They could lead teens to make bad choices, she said.

"What [they] are doing," Westbrook said, "is opening up a can of worms for our young people to have to deal with. And that's not fair."

The ACLU is drawing expertise from Planned Parenthood -- an advocate for reproductive health and rights -- and has joined forces already with some parents. While the group doesn't promote sex outside marriage, it takes issue with schools teaching children only married people should have sex.

"This is basic, lifesaving information that's being censored away from the kids," said George Griffin, who heads the Volusia ACLU.

In 1991, Florida law required schools to start teaching human sexuality. The federal government helps fund the abstinence-only approach. Discussions about sex, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases occur mostly in middle school and 10th-grade health classes.

A committee of Volusia educators and community members will begin meeting in September and make a recommendation to the superintendent late this year.