By Nancy Motley 

A bill identified as the Healthy Teens Act (S1342 Winner/A2856 Gottfried) recently cleared the New York State Senate Health committee and is one step closer to becoming law.  The bill is a funding mechanism for Planned Parenthood and its affiliates.

Liberal Clergy Stand in Support of Comprehensive Sex Ed

If this year is anything like last year, FPA will intensify their efforts in the final days of the legislative session.

Senator Winner (R – Elmira), the bill’s sponsor, did concede that there are some concerns about his bill in the State Senate.  The chief concern seems to revolve around the term “age appropriate”. One family’s definition of what is “age-appropriate” sexual education could be entirely different from another family’s definition.  In essence, the issue would be left up to the State Health Commissioner, rather than parents, to determine age-appropriate material.

Several newspapers around the state have been carrying a story dealing with S1342, and they are wrongly reporting that the bill “requires” abstinence instruction, but abstinence is not one of the mandatory components of instruction. Rev. Jason McGuire, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms’ Legislative Director, believes, "It is deceptive to pawn this bill off as abstinence-based, when abstinence isn't the goal of the bill or of those promoting it." 

Planned Parenthood receives more than $300 million in federal tax dollars every year, and it is the nation's largest abortion provider. McGuire says that “allowing Planned Parenthood to teach sex education to New York's students is like asking the fox to watch the henhouse." 

According to McGuire, groups like Planned Parenthood refer to abstinence as “abstinence-only” education to give the impression that abstinence instruction cannot prepare teens to make healthy choices about their sexuality.  He contends however, that “Abstinence teaches much more than, ‘Just say, no’ and empowers teens to make the healthiest choice when it comes to their sexuality – abstaining until after marriage.”