House panel punts sex education bill

RALEIGH -- A bill to broaden the sex education given to North Carolina schoolchildren skipped through one House committee and onto the lap of another, where its sponsor said lawmakers can better debate the merits of changing the state's abstinence-only curriculum.

Parties on both sides of the issue packed the hearing room as the House Health Committee moved the legislation forward without saying whether it looked favorably on the bill. Only chief sponsor Rep. Susan Fisher and a spokesman for the N.C. Pediatric Society had a chance to speak.

Opponents vowed to take their fight to whatever venue is necessary. The bill "guts abstinence until marriage education in North Carolina," said John Rustin, director of the N.C. Family Policy Council. "We hope we'll have a fair opportunity for a hearing in the education committee."

Fisher, a Buncombe Democrat, stressed that the proposed changes would maintain the current curriculum's emphasis on abstinence as the only foolproof way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy.

But, she said, "abstinence-based comprehensive sexual health education" would give more information about diseases and add fuller data on contraception, social skills and sexual assault and abuse.

"The reality is, most young people are not waiting to have sex until they're married," she said. "Having the knowledge and the desire to remain abstinent is important, but education for both abstinence and safer sexual behavior is essential."

Rustin, outside the hearing, noted that current law allows local school districts to go beyond the abstinence curriculum. "There are 115 local school systems across North Carolina. Less than 10 have opted for comprehensive sex education. Less than 10," he said.

Fisher said parents support a broader program, noting a 2003 survey by the state Department of Public Instruction that found 90.5 percent of North Carolina parents support sexuality education in schools.

Steve Shore, executive director of the N.C. Pediatric Society, urged committee members to ensure "that misleading and false information is not the basis on which young people make decisions that have lifetime consequences."

His remarks were followed immediately by a motion from Rep. Ray Rapp, D-Madison, to send the bill to its next destination, a House education subcommittee.

Fisher acknowledged after the hearing that the bill may not have had the votes to pass the committee, and moving it ahead may give time for support to grow.

"I am not a gambler," she said. "We want to give people a chance to think about what they heard and see if it makes any difference down the road."