Bill Text: TX HB42 | 2013 | 83rd Legislature 2nd Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to notice to parents of public school students regarding human sexuality instruction to reduce the demand for abortion.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-07-10 - Referred to Public Education [HB42 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HB42-Introduced.html
83S20095 MEW-F | ||
By: Farrar | H.B. No. 42 |
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relating to notice to parents of public school students regarding | ||
human sexuality instruction to reduce the demand for abortion. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that: | ||
(1) Texas led the nation in 2010 in the rate of teenage | ||
girls who had second children, according to the Centers for Disease | ||
Control and Prevention; | ||
(2) approximately 22 percent of births in Texas and | ||
18.3 percent of births in the United States by girls age 15 to 19 | ||
were repeat births in 2010, compared to 19.5 percent in the United | ||
States in 2007; | ||
(3) an estimated 80 percent of teen births are | ||
unintended and cost American taxpayers approximately $11 billion a | ||
year and cost Texas taxpayers $1.2 billion in 2008, according to the | ||
National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy; | ||
(4) the only certain way to avoid the termination of an | ||
unwanted pregnancy is to prevent the unwanted pregnancy; | ||
(5) the state has a compelling state interest in | ||
ensuring that there is appropriate knowledge of how a pregnancy | ||
occurs and how a pregnancy can be avoided; | ||
(6) according to the Centers for Disease Control and | ||
Prevention, effective strategies to reduce teen pregnancy include | ||
evidence-based sex education that provides accurate information | ||
and supports the needs of teens throughout their development; and | ||
(7) the state has a compelling state interest in | ||
ensuring that parents are informed of the type of human sexuality | ||
instruction their child is receiving in school. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 28.004, Education Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subsection (i) and adding Subsection (p) to read as | ||
follows: | ||
(i) Before each school year, a school district shall provide | ||
written notice to a parent of each student enrolled in the district | ||
of the board of trustees' decision regarding whether the district | ||
will provide human sexuality instruction to district students. If | ||
instruction will be provided, the notice must include: | ||
(1) a summary of the basic content of the district's | ||
human sexuality instruction to be provided to the student, | ||
including a statement informing the parent that the instruction is | ||
required by [ |
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(A) present abstinence from sexual activity as | ||
the preferred choice of behavior in relationship to all sexual | ||
activity for unmarried persons of school age; and | ||
(B) devote more attention to abstinence from | ||
sexual activity than to any other behavior; | ||
(2) a statement of whether the instruction is | ||
considered by the district to be abstinence-only instruction or | ||
comprehensive instruction, including an explanation of the | ||
difference between those types of instruction and a specific | ||
statement regarding whether the student will receive information on | ||
contraception; | ||
(3) [ |
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(A) review curriculum materials as provided by | ||
Subsection (j); and | ||
(B) remove the student from any part of the | ||
district's human sexuality instruction without subjecting the | ||
student to any disciplinary action, academic penalty, or other | ||
sanction imposed by the district or the student's school; and | ||
(4) [ |
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for parental involvement in the development of the curriculum to be | ||
used in human sexuality instruction, including information | ||
regarding the local school health advisory council established | ||
under Subsection (a). | ||
(p) In this section, "abstinence-only instruction" means | ||
instruction that does not include information about preventing | ||
pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, infection with human | ||
immunodeficiency virus, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome | ||
through any means other than total abstinence from sexual activity. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2013-2014 | ||
school year. | ||
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the | ||
legislative session. |