When discussing a bill that could change the way sex education is taught in Indiana, Sen. Mark Stoops, D-Bloomington, was berated by 15 to 20 people demanding their traditions of abstinence education stay.
Indiana’s standards for sexual education teach children about the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases and the moral aspects of abstinence, according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States website.
The state’s standards stress abstinence to avoid STDs and out-of-wedlock pregnancies, unless sex takes place in a healthy, committed relationship in the context of marriage.
Schools are allowed to supplement that standard material as long as it maintains the standard criteria, according to the website.
Monroe County Community Schools Corporation adhere to this criteria.
They stress abstinence as the only guaranteed option of safety both physically and emotionally.
However, schools in Monroe County also teach students about different kinds of birth control, as well as options for safe sex, Becky Rose, director of Student Services for Monroe County Community Schools Corporation, said.
“Some school corporations don’t talk about birth control at all,” Rose said. “They don’t inform students of what options are even available, but we do tell students about that. We always are consistent in our information to students that the only 100 percent-way to prevent pregnancy is abstinence, and that is what we strongly encourage.”
Stoops expressed concern about the guidelines from the state on its sexual education policies as well as the curriculum taught by Monroe County schools.
Stoops attended a meeting about health education in schools where Senate Bill 497 was being considered.
The bill requires the Department of Health to advise and improve the health education and curriculum, he said.
The bill’s purpose is to require the departments of health and education to work together to report the appropriate academic standards to the General Assembly, according to the Indiana General Assembly website.
The bill has not made it past the Senate.
It was at this meeting Stoops was berated by many accusing him of trying to change the abstinence-only education they had worked so hard to achieve, he said.
It is a crime, he said, this education has such a religious background.
“Besides being incredulous that there was this pressure for abstinence only, I just really wanted to know what we were doing because it seemed to me that we were not prioritizing and really creating a curriculum that gave kids unbiased, scientifically based education,” Stoops said.
Schools in Monroe County have three levels of sexual education, Rose said.
Students begin in fifth grade, when they focus on puberty.
Their next lessons on the subject occur in either seventh or eighth grade, where students learn about abstinence and healthy relationships.
When students enter sophomore year, they receive their final instruction on sex.
In their junior year of high school, students are taught more about abstinence and are shown several forms of birth control and a condom demonstration.
Assisting Monroe County Schools with their sexual education is Dr. Catherine Sherwood-Laughlin, clinical professor in the School of Public Health. Sherwood-Laughlin is the chair of Monroe County School’s subcommittee on health and sexuality education.
“We put it into the context of, ‘What is healthy right now for you at this point in your life?’” Sherwood-Laughlin said. “Just like we wouldn’t encourage them to smoke, we wouldn’t encourage them to drive without a seat belt. It’s kind of the same concept.”
Stoops has another concern with local schools. He said he doesn’t believe school corporations address sexual identity.
“Gender identity will be stigmatized because other school kids don’t know that that’s normal,” Stoops said.
However, Rose said Monroe County schools speak very openly about gender and sexual identity in their sex-ed classes.
“That’s something I’m proud of because it’s something we’ve started to include a lot more of over the years,” Rose said. “When we talk about healthy relationships, we talk about all kinds of relationships. We make sure we include that.”
Stoops’ main concerns, he said, are with the push of abstinence on schoolchildren and the lack of an education in protective services that can help teens and young adults avoid STDs and undesired pregnancies.
He said children are going to experiment regardless of if the school pushes abstinence, which can be a consequence of teaching abstinence-only.
“If they don’t know the details and the science behind the cause and effect then they are going to get their sex education from their fellow students who don’t know any better than they do,” Stoops said.
Even though schools in Monroe County continue to have their abstinence focus, they still have education in alternatives in case students decide to pursue sexual relationships despite the school’s urging for them to wait until marriage.
Teenagers aren’t ready for the emotional stress sexual relationships can cause, Sherwood-Laughlin said.
Much like how 12-year-olds aren’t allowed to drive because they’re just not ready for it, teenagers just aren’t ready for the potential heartbreak that can go along with sexual relationships, she said.
“The bottom line is that we, as adults, all want these kids to be healthy,” Sherwood-Laughlin said. “But we have to be able to give them information to help them make good choices, and that’s our common ground, really.”
