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Bill would create sex-ed standards

Curriculum would have to include contraception info

Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 5, 2007 at midnight

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School districts that offer sex education would have to cover contraception along with abstinence, under a bill approved in the Senate Wednesday.

HB 1292 by Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, was angrily denounced by several Republicans.

Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, said the measure will mean a "comprehensive condom, contraception and copulation" curriculum.

Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, cited a curriculum that includes placing condoms on cucumbers, calling such lessons "disgusting classes."

But Windels said the measure is needed to stem teen pregnancies, which she said are occurring at a rate of one every hour in Colorado.

The bill won preliminary approval on a mostly party-line vote. A tallied vote will probably occur this morning.

The House has already approved the bill in a slightly different form. A conference committee will probably try to resolve the differences.

No district is required to offer sex education under the bill.

But those that do will have to follow a curriculum grounded in scientific research. Contraception - including "emergency contraception" - must be taught.

Courses will continue to emphasize abstinence.

The specifics are left to local school boards. Districts are free to offer only a cursory explanation of contraception, said Rep. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora, the House sponsor of the bill.

"You have to mention it," Todd said.

Parents can remove their children from the classes.

Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, called the measure a "top-down, heavy-handed bill" in a state that leaves most curriculum decisions to local school boards.

Many of the lawmakers backing the sex education bill opposed his measure to strengthen science and math requirements, Penry said.

"What is wrong with the priorities of this legislature?" Penry asked.

Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, said students need help in dealing with the pervasive sexual messages in popular culture.

Romer said his father, former Gov. Roy Romer, learned what the female body looked like from the bra section of the Sears, Roebuck catalog.

Now, Romer said, "We have a girls- gone-wild culture."

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