Mississippi Senate OKs version of sex ed bill
By SHELIA BYRD - Associated Press
The Sun-Harold--March 4, 2011
JACKSON -- A sex education bill approved Thursday in the state Senate would ban school officials from demonstrating how to use condoms and require parental permission before students can be in the class.
The Senate voted to change a House bill to add those provisions, as well as requiring schools that choose to teach more than abstinence to include information about the risk and failure rates of contraceptives.
Under the bill, districts must choose to teach either abstinence or “abstinence plus,” which includes health information about contraceptives. Sen. Lee Yancey, R-Brandon, said the bill also requires that students are separated by gender in the classes.
The bill now goes back to the House for more work. But House Education Committee Chairman Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, said he doesn’t expect much opposition to the proposal in his chamber.
“I’m going to talk to our folks about it. I suspect we’ll concur. I don’t want to risk the bill failing,” Brown said Thursday.
The bill is House Bill 999.
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