Sex-ed bill wins early OK

[usregimechange]

JEFFERSON CITY — Students would have to get a permission slip from their parents before taking sex-education courses under a bill that received initial approval Tuesday in the Missouri House.

The measure, which got first-round approval on a 92-61 vote, would reverse current Missouri law, which requires all students to take sex education courses unless their parents say otherwise. The legislation comes after the Kansas Board of Education approved a similar parental permission requirement for sex-education classes.

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Rep. Beth Low, a Kansas City Democrat, said teen pregnancies had fallen by 20 percent in Missouri since the state adopted sex-education requirements in 1987.

“Ignorance is not a form of birth control,” Low said. “By creating an opt-in standard we are going to prevent many students from getting the sex ed they are not getting at home.”

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/14428431.htm