Wisconsin Teachers: Put Away Those Bananas
Bad craziness is on the march in Wisconsin, where Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth is threatening to arrest teachers who follow a new law requiring them to instruct students on the use of contraceptives.
Yes, you read that right. This district attorney is planning to prosecute teachers for obeying the law, because he wants to make sure that teenagers will continue getting pregnant.
In light of a letter from Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth, leaders at the five school districts in the county are evaluating what to do now, New Lisbon School District Superintendent Tom Andres told AOL News today.
“I don’t intend to put our teachers in harm’s way,” he said. “We were just about to meet to discuss how to comply with the new law. Then this letter came, and this is another piece of the puzzle that we’ll have to consider as we figure out how to move forward.”
The state law, called the Healthy Youth Act, took effect in March. Starting this fall, it requires schools with sex-education courses to teach students medically accurate, age-appropriate information, including how to use birth control and prevent sexually transmitted diseases. It also requires the classes to include information about how to recognize signs of abuse and how alcohol can affect decision making.
Parents will be permitted to remove their children from sex-education classes, as they could under previous state law. Schools also will be allowed the choice of whether to offer sex education, but must notify parents if they decide not to.
In his letter, Southworth told school district leaders the new law promotes sexual assault of children, and warns that teachers who follow the law could be charged with misdemeanor or felony delinquency of a minor, with maximum punishments ranging from nine months in jail to six years in prison.
“For example, if a teacher instructs any student aged 16 or younger how to utilize contraceptives under circumstances where the teacher knows the child is engaging in sexual activity with another child — or even where the ‘natural and probable consequences’ of the teacher’s instruction is to cause that child to engage in sexual intercourse with a child — that teacher can be charged under this statue,” Southworth wrote.
“Moreover, the teacher could be charged with this crime even if the child does not actually engage in the criminal behavior,” he wrote, adding, “Our teachers should never be put in this position.”
Just one more example of the backward Stone Age thinking of the modern right wing. Sick sick sick.