MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2019 Regular Session
To: Education; Public Health and Human Services
By: Representative Clarke
House Bill 1401
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-13-171, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972,
TO REVISE THE REQUIREMENT AND STANDARDS OF CURRICULUM TO BE USED IN PUBLIC
SCHOOL DISTRICTS FOR THE TEACHING OF SEX EDUCATION; TO REMOVE THE REQUIREMENT
THAT SUCH PROGRAM BE ABSTINENCE-ONLY OR ABSTINENCE-PLUS COURSE OF INSTRUCTION;
TO PROVIDE THAT THE REQUIRED POLICY TO BE ADOPTED TO IMPLEMENT SEX EDUCATION
SHALL BE COMPREHENSIVE IN NATURE AND PROVIDE MEDICALLY
ACCURATE, COMPLETE, AGE AND DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INFORMATION; TO
REQUIRE POLICY TO BE AVAILABLE BY THE BEGINNING OF THE 2019-2020 SCHOOL YEAR;
TO PRESCRIBE WHAT ELEMENTS SHALL NOT BE INCLUDED IN THE SEX EDUCATION
CURRICULUM ADOPTED AND IMPLEMENTED BY SCHOOL DISTRICTS; AND FOR RELATED
PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section
37-13-171, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-13-171. (1) The local
school board of every public school district shall adopt a policy to implement * * *
abstinence‑only or abstinence‑plus
education into its curriculum by June 30, 2012, which instruction in those
subjects shall be implemented not later than the start of the 2012‑2013
school year or the local school board shall adopt the program which has been
developed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services and the Mississippi
Department of Health. The State Department of Education shall approve each
district's curriculum for sex‑related education and shall establish a
protocol to be used by districts to provide continuity in teaching the approved
curriculum in a manner that is age, grade and developmentally appropriatecomprehensive
sex education programs that:
(a) Provide the
information and skills all young people need to make informed, responsible and
healthy decisions in order to become sexually healthy adults and have healthy
relationships;
(b) Provide
information about the prevention of unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted
infections (including HIV), dating violence, sexual assault, bullying and
harassment; and
(c) Promote and
uphold the rights of young people to
information in order to make
healthy and responsible decisions
about their sexual health.
(2) * * *
Abstinence‑only education shall remain
the state standard for any sex‑related education taught in the public
schools. For purposes of this section, abstinence‑only education
includes any type of instruction or program which, at an appropriate age and
grade:
(a)
Teaches the social, psychological and health gains to be realized by abstaining
from sexual activity, and the likely negative psychological and physical
effects of not abstaining;
(b)
Teaches the harmful consequences to the child, the child's parents and society
that bearing children out of wedlock is likely to produce, including the
health, educational, financial and other difficulties the child and his or her
parents are likely to face, as well as the inappropriateness of the social and
economic burden placed on others;
(c)
Teaches that unwanted sexual advances are irresponsible and teaches how to
reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increases vulnerability to
sexual advances;
(d)
Teaches that abstinence from sexual activity before marriage, and fidelity
within marriage, is the only certain way to avoid out‑of‑wedlock
pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and related health problems. The
instruction or program may include a discussion on condoms or contraceptives,
but only if that discussion includes a factual presentation of the risks and
failure rates of those contraceptives. In no case shall the instruction or
program include any demonstration of how condoms or other contraceptives are
applied;
(e)
Teaches the current state law related to sexual conduct, including forcible
rape, statutory rape, paternity establishment, child support and homosexual
activity; and
(f)
Teaches that a mutually faithful, monogamous relationship in the context of
marriage is the only appropriate setting for sexual intercourse.By
the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, each public school district must
adopt a sex education curriculum that:
(a) Covers a broad
range of topics, including medically accurate, complete, age and
developmentally appropriate information about all the aspects of sex needed for
a complete sex education program, including:
(i) Anatomy and
physiology;
(ii) Growth and
development;
(iii) Healthy
relationships;
(iv) The
prevention of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs),
including HIV, through abstinence and contraception; and
(v) Protection
from dating violence, sexual assault, bullying and harassment;
(b) Promotes
educational achievement, critical thinking, decision-making, self-esteem and
self-efficacy;
(c) Helps develop
healthy attitudes and insights necessary for understanding relationships
between oneself and others and society;
(d) Fosters
leadership skills and community engagement by:
(i) Promoting
principles of fairness, human
dignity and respect; and
(ii) Engaging
young people as partners in their communities; and
(e) Are culturally
and linguistically appropriate, reflecting the diverse circumstances and
realities of young people.
* * * (3) A program or instruction on sex‑related
education need not include every component listed in subsection (2) of this
section for abstinence‑only education. However, no program or
instruction under an abstinence‑only curriculum may include anything that
contradicts the excluded components. For purposes of this section, abstinence‑plus
education includes every component listed under subsection (2) of this section
that is age and grade appropriate, in addition to any other programmatic or
instructional component approved by the department, which shall not include
instruction and demonstrations on the application and use of condoms.
Abstinence‑plus education may discuss other contraceptives, the nature,
causes and effects of sexually transmitted diseases, or the prevention of
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, along with a factual
presentation of the risks and failure rates.
(4)
Any course containing sex‑related education offered in the public schools
shall include instruction in either abstinence‑only or abstinence‑plus
education.
(5) Local school districts, in their discretion, may host
programs designed to teach parents how to discuss abstinence with their
children.
(6)
There shall be no effort in either an abstinence‑only or an abstinence‑plus
curriculum to teach that abortion can be used to prevent the birth of a baby.
( * * *83) This section shall stand repealed
on July 1, 2021.
SECTION 2. Sex education programs with any of the
following information shall not be adopted or implemented in Mississippi
schools:
(a)
Deliberately withhold health promoting or life-saving information about
sexuality-related topics, including HIV;
(b)
Are medically inaccurate or have been scientifically shown to be ineffective;
(c)
Are insensitive and unresponsive to the needs of
survivors
of sexual abuse or assault; or
(d)
Are inconsistent with the ethical imperatives of
medicine
and public health.
SECTION
3. This act shall take
effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.