Sex Ed. A staple of American education has recently been under a spotlight with multiple states implementing “Don’t Say Gay” bills and anti-abortion bills preventing parts of the curriculum from being taught. However, a completely different type of spotlight is being shined on sex education in Indiana schools. And it’s a turn for the worst.
Senate Bill 442 was originally a bill with good intentions that turned dark fast. The bill, as written originally, mentions specific things that are good for students to learn about like consent and renaming sexually transmitted diseases to sexually transmitted infections to lighten the taboo around these STDs. It also mentioned consent forms for parents if they didn’t want their child to learn about homosexuality, while ridiculous, it came from a place of respect for conservative parents who wanted more control over their child’s education.
After going through the House Education Committee, where any member of the house can submit amendments that will be voted on, this completely innocent bill that was a step in the right direction turned into yet another step backwards that the US is taking in the legislature. They first attacked the teaching consent requirement.
While removing the consent requirement seems awful, the members of the House weren’t done there, they then added an inaccurate, anti-abortion video that isn’t even produced by doctors. This bill passed the senate on April 24 and will be effective starting July 1 of this year if the governor decides to sign it into law.
Thankfully, they only passed it on the condition that the consent requirement be added back in, but sex ed in Indiana is going down a dark road with even the potential of this awful law passing.
This inappropriate video could be shown to kids in elementary school, kids younger than age ten who don’t know any better. This bill is one of the most harmful ones because it affects our education and youth. This bill could also prevent abortion from becoming legal again because of the belief that these kids will have after growing up watching such a medically inaccurate video.
Indiana’s governor is very likely to sign this bill into law too considering everything he has done while in office, like the abortion bans and multiple laws relating to child and infant care, as well as an increase in parental control over their children. If Gov. Holcomb signs this bill Indiana’s youth will view an inaccurate video and potentially base their future opinions on misinformation.
