DHHS Promotes Comprehensive Sex Ed

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DHHS Promotes Comprehensive Sex Ed

Special Report - December 14, 2007
A notice has gone out from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announcing a proposed rule change (see page 905-906) for grants given by DHHS to outside groups that provide pregnancy prevention programs either in public schools or in another community setting under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI). The rule change would require any applications for grants to include: (1) “a plan to provide comprehensive sexuality education including complete and medically accurate information about contraceptive methods including abstinence to all participants,” and (2) “a plan to refer teens who have needs beyond the scope of the program including but not limited to… family planning….” The effect of the proposed rule change would be that programs which are currently receiving state grants and are either teaching abstinence until marriage and/or not referring teens to family planning organizations (like Planned Parenthood) would be ineligible for any new grants. A hearing on the proposed rules is scheduled for Monday, December 17, 2007 in the Cardinal Room at 5605 Six Forks Road in Raleigh. The public comment period on these proposed rules will end on January 14, 2008.

Tami Fitzgerald, an attorney with the North Carolina Family Policy Council, said, “It is important that the State’s policy on teaching sex education to students in public schools be consistent. Our state law mandates that public schools teach in the classroom that abstinence until marriage is the expected standard for all students. It is totally inconsistent and counterproductive for another branch of state government (DHHS) to give grants of taxpayer money for instruction outside the classroom only to organizations that teach comprehensive sex education and refer young teens for family planning (i.e. abortion) services.”