Bill Text: TX HB48 | 2013 | 83rd Legislature 2nd Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to health education curriculum and instruction in public schools to reduce the demand for abortion.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-07-10 - Referred to State Affairs [HB48 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HB48-Introduced.html
| 83S20094 MEW-F | ||
| By: Dukes | H.B. No. 48 | |
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| relating to health education curriculum and instruction in public | ||
| schools 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; and | ||
| (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. | ||
| SECTION 2. Section 28.004, Education Code, is amended by | ||
| amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (o) to read as | ||
| follows: | ||
| (e) Any course materials and instruction relating to human | ||
| sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, or human | ||
| immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome | ||
| shall be selected by the board of trustees with the advice of the | ||
| local school health advisory council and must: | ||
| (1) be evidence-based; | ||
| (2) present abstinence from sexual activity as the | ||
| preferred choice of behavior in relationship to all sexual activity | ||
| for unmarried persons of school age; | ||
| (3) [ |
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| sexual activity than to any other behavior; | ||
| (4) [ |
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| activity, if used consistently and correctly, is the only method | ||
| that is 100 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, sexually | ||
| transmitted diseases, infection with human immunodeficiency virus, | ||
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| associated with adolescent sexual activity; | ||
| (5) [ |
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| in which abstinence from sexual activity before marriage is the | ||
| most effective way to prevent pregnancy, sexually transmitted | ||
| diseases, [ |
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| (6) [ |
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| of human use reality rates instead of theoretical laboratory rates, | ||
| if instruction on contraception and condoms is included in | ||
| curriculum content. | ||
| (o) In this section, "evidence-based" means information | ||
| verified or supported by research that is: | ||
| (1) conducted in compliance with accepted scientific | ||
| methods; | ||
| (2) published in peer-reviewed journals, if | ||
| appropriate; | ||
| (3) recognized as medically accurate, objective, and | ||
| complete by mainstream professional organizations and agencies | ||
| with expertise in the relevant field, including the federal Centers | ||
| for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Department | ||
| of Health and Human Services; and | ||
| (4) proven through rigorous, scientific evaluation to | ||
| achieve positive outcomes on measures of sexual risk behavior or | ||
| its health consequences. | ||
| 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. | ||
