Ohio Sex Education Bill Threatens Teachers With $5K Fine
A two-year budget bill advanced by Ohio’s state House of Representatives on Tuesday would defund Planned Parenthood, redirect that state money to Christian-run “crisis pregnancy centers,” and impose a fine of up to $5,000 on teachers who provide certain kinds of sex education instruction to their students.
The sex education amendment to the budget bill, introduced by Rep. Lynn Wachtmann (R), encourages schools to teach abstinence-only education and bans sexual education that condones “any gateway sexual activity or health message that encourages students to experiment with sexual activity.” The amendment also prohibits teachers from distributing contraceptive materials and bans public schools from using the services of any individual or organization who “endorses student nonabstinence from sexual activity as an appropriate or acceptable behavior, or if that individual or organization promotes, endorses, advocates, or condones gateway sexual activity.”
Instructors who violate the law could be sued in court for up to $5,000.
State Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern told the Toledo Blade that Republicans are “bent on outlawing sexuality and reverting to the Dark Ages.”
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