Federal Title X clinics do not require parental consent for birth control — except in Texas, where a lawsuit upended the longstanding program.
The groups work in dozens of school districts across the state, but some public health experts say their curricula can be misleading and biased.
Approved by both chambers, the bill is now on its way to the governor. Unless he vetoes it, the bill will become law, which means book vendors will have to assign ratings to books based on depictions or references to sex.
The decision to drop the course followed a Jan. 24 school board meeting that saw dozens of residents and parents speak out against the curriculum, which has been in place since 2014.
In conservative Sabine County, it’s hard for teens to access contraception or sex education beyond lessons on abstinence. The Deep East Texas region has one of the highest teen birth rates in the state.
The party planks specify what the Texas GOP believes students should and should not be taught in the classroom about gender and sex, signaling further shifts to the right. Critics say such policies would be harmful and discriminatory.
Paxton equated the week of LGBTQ-inclusive activities with sex education in a letter to the district. Austin ISD says it’s about acceptance.
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The Texas State Board of Education discussed and took a preliminary vote on sex education standards this week. Currently, learning about birth control methods beyond abstinence is only a requirement in high school, where health education is an optional course. About 39% of Texas high school students report having had sex, but less than half of them used condoms and a small percentage used birth control pills. Over the last several months, panels of educators and medical professionals formulated recommendations to overhaul the health and sex education policies. "I don't think at the high school level we can afford to be cryptic with regards to our youth," said Marisa Perez-Diaz, a Converse Democrat.