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On Thursday, July 20th, 2017, the MA State Senate voted to approve S.2113, the Sex Ed Mandate. The legislation now moves to the House, which has yet to vote on its own version of the mandate, (currently House Bill 410). These two identical bills would take control over what is taught about sex (and when it is taught) out of the hands of local school committees and cede it to state education bureaucrats. (And let me tell you, the curricula they are already on record as endorsing is outrageous! More on that in a minute.)
Senate Bill 2113 and House 410, both entitled “An Act Relative to Healthy Youth,” would require all schools in MA to align their sexual
health curricula with the Massachusetts Health Education Frameworks standards (for those of you following the Common Core debate, you know how this works). If either of these bills is passed, schools will be scrambling for Sex Ed curricula that is consistent with the Health Frameworks, and it is no surprise that the MA Department of Education and Planned Parenthood are already working together to promote “Get Real,” the new curriculum designed by none other than the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.
Here at MFI, we acquired a copy of the “Get Real” student workbooks for grades 6 through 8. Although they are shot through with offensive material, I brought them to the hearing to ask the legislators if they believed they should be forcing these things on our local schools children. For example, in the Planned Parenthood workbook pictured here, 7th graders are encouraged to use “non-microwavable saran wrap” as a prophylactic for certain non-reproductive sex acts, which I will not repeat in this email (You can read for yourself here). The MA Department of Education has approved this curriculum as “age appropriate” and “medically accurate,” and this bill would give them authority over every sex ed class in the state!
In late 2015, an earlier version of this Sex-Ed Mandate was passed in the MA Senate before getting stalled in the House. It was the first time that this type of legislation had passed in either chamber.
Supporters of the bill claim that all it does is require “[a]ge-appropriate” instruction about sex, but the problem is: WHO decides what is “age appropriate” for our kids? The way the bill is designed, this question would be determined by the same activists at the state department of education that think it is “age appropriate” for 12-year-olds to study the finer points of dental dam usage during non-reproductive sexual acts.
Although these bills don’t explicitly mention “abortion” in the list of required topics, previous versions of the bill confirm legislators do want young children learning about access to abortion. The Department of Education, at the request of legislators, would be quick to issue formal regulations requiring abortion be included in the curriculum.
The bill also authorizes the MA Department of Education to “update the health curriculum framework, including provisions relative to sexual health education.” Practically speaking, this means unelected bureaucrats get to determine what your kids are learning in school!
Although these bills don’t explicitly mention “abortion” in the list of required topics, previous versions of the bill confirm legislators do want young children learning about access to abortion. The Department of Education, at the request of legislators, would be quick to issue formal regulations requiring abortion be included in the curriculum.
Despite being titled “An Act relative to healthy youth,” these bills are really a state-wide Sex Ed Mandate, which would give state bureaucrats the authority to dictate what local schools teach about sex and at what age they teach it.
This bill failed in the house last session. Let’s make sure that happens again. Together, we can send a clear message to Beacon Hill that we DO NOT want Planned Parenthood poisoning the minds of our young children.
