Condom lessons for 6th-graders approved

Another Florida school district is planning to give its 6th-graders lessons in how to use contraceptives, starting in April, a move that Planned Parenthood is promoting in the state.

WND earlier reported when the St. Lucie school board adopted a sex-ed curriculum that included a field trip to buy condoms, although district officials there decided not to use that lesson after parents objected.

Now officials in Palm Beach County have decided to teach their 6th-graders the use of contraceptives such as condoms, according to a report in the Palm Beach Post.

"Florida is the sixth-highest in the nation for pregnant teens, and that tells us we need to get information to our students," Judy Klinek, who oversees health education for the district, told the newspaper.

Since Florida law requires abstinence-based education, 6th-graders in the past have learned about sexually transmitted diseases and taught how to resist pressure to engage in sexual behavior, the report said.

Now, however, students will get "detailed" lessons in contraceptives, a move that is part of a larger effort to make such lessons mandatory statewide.

"[The Florida Planned Parenthood abortion providers are] proud to work with Sen. Ted Deutch, D-30, and Rep. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, D-109, to introduce the Healthy Teens Act (SB 848, HB 449) during the 2008 Legislative session," the groups' website said. "The Healthy Teens Act protects Florida's teens by requiring that public schools receiving state funding provide comprehensive, medically accurate, and age-appropriate factual information when teaching about sexually transmitted infections." The website specifically listed AIDS and pregnancy among those "sexually transmitted infections."

"One of the lessons … gives tips on how to store and use condoms and encourages teachers to invite a medical professional to demonstrate their use. Students also will be told where to get more information on contraceptives," the newspaper report about Palm Beach County said.

The changes are being installed, officials reported, because they believe introducing children to contraceptives and their use will impact the county's rates for teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

The health department said births by mothers 19 or younger totaled 462 in 2004 and 506 in 2006.

Jean Malecki, the health department chief, has been a lead critic of the schools' sex education program, because "it did not go far enough."

"We need to get the facts out," Marsha Fishbane, the health department's director for school health, told the newspaper.

There's been no controversy yet over the plan to introduce pre-teens to contraceptives and add a "comprehensive sex education to elementary schools."

Officials also noted Deutch's campaign to revamp sex education statewide would make such "comprehensive" lessons mandatory for children statewide.

WND also reported on similar issues in Montgomery County, Md., where school officials launched a new sex ed program that teaches students that homosexuality is innate, which conflicts with state law there requiring that such programs be based on facts.

That case remains under study by the Thomas More Law Center for possible further legal challenges.

WND also covered the issue when officials in Boulder, Colo., held a seminar for students in which they were told to "have sex," including same-sex experiences, and "take drugs."

Another school event promoted homosexuality to students while banning parents, and at still another, WND reported school officials ordered their 14-year-old freshman class into a "gay" indoctrination seminar after having them sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell their parents.