Wisconsin Healthy Youth Act

On the fast track, this bill, appeared for cosponsor solicitation just last week, is moving with light speed in the Assembly process, and will probably be on the Senate Education Committee agenda by Monday. Obviously, proponents think their ducks are in line. Looks like Lon Newman got his two reps on the Assembly Education Committee to co-sponsor, as did Planned Parenthood with members from Milwaukee and Madison; but only half the Democrats on the committee cosigned.
This bill doesn't have state support but it could be enacted before anyone knows what happened.

So what is the Healthy Youth Act? It is boiler-plate legislation being spread throughout the country with the only variation being the repeal of existing Wisconsin laws and statutes. It is supported by Planned Parenthood, Advocates for Youth, SIECUS, NARAL, ACLU and probably, the three "professional medical associations" mentioned in the bill. It is same old, same old promotion of comprehensive sex education, the chosen term for contraception-based programs.

It uses falsehoods such as referring to contraceptives and barrier methods as "prevention" rather than risk reduction. It defines "age appropriate" in part as "behavior typical to that age group". Gets away with that one by by requiring that the educational methods or materials cannot "promote bias against ....sexually active pupils" So, in other words, despite all the statistics showing the continual increase in STI, teen HIV, and teen pregnancy, the sexual behavior producing those results is protected, and above criticism. As it becomes "typical" of minor children that also means it is age appropriate. This bill legitimizes what supporters have been slyly promoting for decades--sexual activity is natural and approriate for anyone at any time with anyone.

Our state laws cannot support this not can the state continue to ignore its Age of Consent Laws meant to protect children from predators, users and abusers but also from their own sexual naivete that is leading to severe lifelong consequences.

This bill also removes all local school district control as it relates to Human Growth and Development. Choice of program and state contracted program providers rests with the State Superintendent of Education who is also required to apply for the not yet approved federal pregnancy prevention funding. The school district is left with the right of refusal but no way to pay for an alternative since the bill doiesn't also require applying for a variety of funding options that might cover the school district's choice. Parents also lose their imput as curriculum review committees are kaput. The current adversarial but allowable discussion of any sex education curriculum will end. The state option is the only option as soon as this bill passes.

Also troubling is the mention of "an evidence-based program". ANY program that has passed anyone's evidence-based standard is not necessarily going to be effective in Milwaukee and Montello and Manistee because it wasn't written to meet those childrens needs in the environment in which they live. If we want to have healthy children we should at least consider the health of their community, families, schools, etc.