By Ben Philpott, KUT News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-828981.mp3
Austin, TX – Several bills are working through the Texas Legislature that would shift the state's public sex education program away from the current Abstinence ONLY guidelines. KUT's Ben Philpott has more.
San Antonio Representative Mike Villarreal is sponsoring one of the bills that would change the state's current Sex Education system. His pushes for a more comprehensive program to be taught in schools.
Villarreal: "I think teenagers know when adults aren't presenting the full truth or the whole story to them."
He'd like to see a state sex ed program that mimics successful steroid abuse programs.
Villarreal: "The programs that are frank honest - here are the consequences - those programs are the most affective. In the same fashion we're trying to bring that frankness and honest information to the table if schools are going to engage in sex education."
But some say that "frank" approach is code for downplaying the risks of using contraception - and catching a sexually transmitted disease. Kyleen Wright with the Texans for Life Coalition says the some of the bills would take away local program control.
Wright: "If you talk about a unified program - what you're talking about is eliminating community control. And that's what we have through the health advisory committees in the law now -- and it's working."
Wright says teen pregnancies are down more than 20 percent since abstinence only teaching began. Groups pushing for change say those same rates have started to climb again now that the vast majority of school districts are using abstinence only programs.