California Judge Rules Against Abstinence-Only Sex Education Programs
In an historic ruling, a California judge stated that teaching abstinence-only education programs are in violation of California law and promote "medically inaccurate information."
According to Fresno County Superior Court Judge Donald Black, abstinence-only programs do not meet the state's standard for sex education. His groundbreaking decision also stated that the Clovis Unified School District violated a 2003 state law, which requires public schools to "provide a pupil with the knowledge and skills necessary to protect his or her sexual and reproductive health from unintended pregnancy and STDs," reports the San Francisco Gate.
"Given the high social cost of teen pregnancy and similar toll on society of HIV/ADIS [sic] and other sexually transmitted diseases, the rights vindicated by this suit, access to medically, and socially appropriate sexual education, is an important public right," Judge Black wrote. He added that the school district did not comply with the law by promoting "medically inaccurate information."
Following the ruling, Phyllida Burlingame, the director of reproductive justice policy at the ACLU, announced that "This is the first time that abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula have been found to be medically inaccurate," reports the San Francisco Gate. She added that "this ruling is huge victory for students," and that it sends a strong message to other schools that "young people need complete, accurate health information required by law."
A group of students' parents in the district filed the lawsuit in 2012, claiming their children were subjected to health classes that presented biased videos that likened a non-virgin woman to a dirty shoe, reports Think Progress.
Parents also argued that the Clovis Unified School District's curriculum promoted celibacy before marriage without mentioning contraceptives, while calling some methods of birth control ineffective.
In addition, they claimed a video promoted sexual-orientation bias with the mantra "One man, one woman, one life."
Parents also pointed to a school textbook that lacked information about preventing pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections.
The lawsuit, however, was dropped in February 2014 after the district adopted a more "comprehensive" program. Still, Black's April 28 landmark ruling ordered the district to pay attorneys' fees.
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