Report Title:

Medically Accurate Sex Education

Description:

Requires recipients of state funding that provide information or offer programs regarding sex education to provide medically accurate, factual information, that is age-appropriate and includes education on both abstinence and contraception.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

876

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO MEDICALLY ACCURATE SEX EDUCATION.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. In July of 2001, then-Surgeon General David Satcher released his long-awaited Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior. Citing research findings on the effectiveness of various program interventions, the Satcher report stresses the importance of sex education that balances encouragement of abstinence for young people with assuring "awareness of optimal protection from sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy, for those who are sexually active ...." Satcher's conclusion is echoed in Health People 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services' set of official national goals for improved public health, which emphasizes the need to reduce teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease rates in part through comprehensive sex education programs.

The state department of education, in order to help students make decisions that promote healthy behaviors, instructs students that abstention from sexual intercourse is the surest and most responsible way to prevent unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and consequent emotional distress. The purpose of this Act is to ensure that any instruction, counseling, or teaching relating to sex education shall be medically accurate, factually based, and objective.

SECTION 2. The Hawaii Revised Statutes is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§   -   Medically accurate sex education. (a) Any recipient of state funding that provides information or offers programs regarding sex education, family planning, pregnancy counseling, or sexually transmitted diseases shall provide medically accurate, factual information that is age-appropriate and that includes education on both abstinence and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

(b) For the purposes of this section:

"Factual information" includes but is not limited to, medical, psychiatric, psychological, empirical, and statistical statements.

"Medically accurate" means verified or supported by research conducted in compliance with scientific methods and published in peer-reviewed journals, where appropriate, and recognized as accurate and objective by professional organizations and agencies with expertise in the relevant field, such as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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