A bill requiring sex education classes to teach an abstinence-only curriculum moved closer to becoming a law in Utah Wednesday, the Huffington Post reports. The state House passed HB 363 [1] in a 45-28 vote following extensive debate. The bill — which now goes on to the state Senate — would lift the current requirement that all public schools must teach sex ed in grades 8 through 12. If the bill passes, districts would decide whether to offer sex ed classes that teach an abstinence-only curriculum, or not offer the course at all. Republican state Rep. Bill Wright sponsored the proposal.
“We’ve been culturally watered down to think we have to teach about sex, about having sex and how to get away with it, which is intellectually dishonest,” Wright said, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. [2] “Why don’t we just be honest with them upfront that sex outside marriage is devastating?”