RALEIGH -- The General Assembly gave final approval today to a bill that will retool the way sexual education is taught in public schools.
The bill requires that all school districts teach that abstinence until marriage is what's expected of all students, and that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
But it also requires that all school districts provide supplemental instruction about contraceptives, including information about the effectiveness and safety of different types of contraceptives.
The bill allows parents to withdraw their children from the supplemental portion of the sexual-education curriculum.
After months of debate and many revisions, the final version of the bill is being seen as a compromise.
It retains an emphasis on abstinence until marriage, but for the first time enacts a requirement that all schools give students scientifically accurate information about STDs, contraceptives and other topics such as sexual assault.
Currently in North Carolina, the scope of sex education varies from school district to school district.
The majority of districts teach some version of an "abstinence-only" curriculum. They vary in how much information, if any, they give students about contraceptives.
A few school districts, including the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools, teach a more comprehensive curriculum. Abstinence is still emphasized as the expected standard, but as a matter of policy, students also are given considerable information about STDs and contraceptives.
In districts that already teach a more comprehensive curriculum, the bill that passed today will likely have little practical effect.
The bill passed after the N.C. House voted 60-to-55 to agree to changes made by the N.C. Senate. The bill now goes to Gov. Bev Perdue, who is expected to sign it into law.
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