Gov. Jim Doyle's signed a bill in May requiring Wisconsin school boards to present abstinence as the ideal choice of behavior in sex education curriculums. Though the bill carried bi-partisan support after it was amended, it may not be as strong as its authors originally intended.
'Senate Bill 286 is a common-sense approach to an adolescent health issue that should not be controversial,' said bill co-author Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, in a statement.
Lazich said that the growing number of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases in the state among high school students, calls for a plan expressing 'loud and clear that abstinence is the only way to be safe and healthy.'
According to Lazich, current curriculums educate about STDs and how to prevent them, but do not require that abstinence is taught as the 'preferred behavior and the most effective method to prevent pregnancy and STDs.'
Under SB 286, this clause and its teachings would be a requirement for all school districts opting to teach any sex education program.
Before opponents snub the bill for its mention of abstinence, SB 286 only calls for a minor tweaking to the system's language.
'It is not an abstinence-only program,' said Julianne Appling, executive director for the Family Institute of Wisconsin.
Instead, it is abstinence-based and calls for more comprehensive programs with emphasis not on abstinence but on how to be safer, she said.
However, Appling said the authors' intent for the bill and the current language of the bill are not a perfect match. 'It is a very amended version of what we started with,' she said.
This amended version may be the reason why the bill passed with little opposition through both the Senate and Assembly, Safar said.
'I think everyone agrees abstinence is the preferred choice for teens,' said Nicole Safar, public policy analyst for Planned Parenthood.
The compromise for an abstinence-preferred program over an abstinence-only one has cooled a lot of the contentious debate among lawmakers. Without the heat, 'this bill really lacks,' she said.
Other states have taken more steps than Wisconsin, in the way of abstinence education.
'This is a long way from an abstinence-only program,' Appling said. 'Our state is unique in that we have a sort of middle ground.'
However, SB 286 allows the abstinence component to be 'complimented with giving students info about control and contraceptives to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy,' Safar said.
Safar said the while educational tools have been effective in lowering the state's teen-pregnancy rate in the last 15 years, 'we could still do better,'
Milwaukee has the second highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation and Wisconsin has the eighth highest chlamydia rate, which is the highest in Midwest.
'The way to address these issues is to give students all tools they need to make healthy decisions,' Safar said.
