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INDIANA Abstinence Education in Indiana Get Real Indiana! is a statewide coalition of organizations working for comprehensive sex education and calling for medically accurate, age-appropriate, affirming sexuality curricula for Indiana students. The results of a survey conducted in part by Indiana University's Center for Sexual Health Promotion was a motivating factor for the formation of the coalition. Get Real Indiana started in approximately 2006. In spring of 2007 they held a meeting in the IN Capitol rotunda. In January of 2008 Senator Billie Breaux filed a serious attack against abstinence education. Senate Bill 327 would require that students can only take abstinence based sex education classes if parents give prior written consent. The written information given to parents would be required to state that "your child is not receiving medically accurate information" on a host of issues like pregnancy prevention or reducing the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Interestingly, this threat to abstinence education flies in the face of Indiana's abstinence law, which Planned Parenthood and safe-sex contraceptive-based education proponents really despise and try to undermine. This bill was dropped. Submitted by Wilma K. Willard 5/2/08 Indiana Sexuality Education Law and Policy Indiana requires that schools teach sexuality education. This instruction must:
Each school must include instruction about HIV/AIDS and “integrate this effort to the extent possible with instruction on other dangerous communicable diseases.” This instruction must stress abstinence-until-marriage. School boards must also establish an AIDS advisory council, consisting of 13 people. This council must consist of “parents, students, teachers, administrators, and representatives of the state department of health” and must review all curricula and materials for HIV/AIDS instruction to ensure that they “reflect the standards of the community.” This council must also work in consultation with the Indiana Department of Health. Furthermore, Indiana Code states that: The state board of education shall provide information stressing the moral aspects of abstinence from sexual activity in any literature that it distributes to schoolchildren and young adults concerning available methods for the prevention of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Such literature must state that the best way to avoid AIDS is for young people to refrain from sexual activity until they are ready as adults to establish, in the context of marriage, a mutually faithful monogamous relationship. See Indiana Code 20-10.1-4-10, 20-10.1-4-11, and 20-8.1-11-3. Parents for Truth Member Organizations in Indiana P.A.T.H., Inc. PEERS Project Other Organizations Providing Abstinence Education in Indiana Character Blocks/Wait Trainers Vincennes Community School Corporation Project RESPECT “Sex Can Wait” St. Anthony Medical Center Abstinence Education for Miami County Teens Northern Indiana Community Foundation, Inc. Multifaceted Abstinence Intervention for At-Risk Women and Youth Women’s Care Center Creating Positive Relationships Crisis Pregnancy Center of the Wabash Valley Northwest Indiana/Lake County “Sex Can Wait” Abstinence Program St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers Worth the Wait Program-Scott County/New Hope Services, Inc. Kids Place Clay Community Project RESPECT - Clay Community Schools Willing 2 Wait - Clarian Health Partners Creating Positive Relationships, Inc. Campaign For Our Kids - De Kalb County Campaign For Our Kids, Inc. Bluffton-Harrison Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Initiative-Sexual Abstinence Education Program Bluffton Middle School Stop Teen Pregnancy of Madison County - Madison County Health Department Project RESPECT - Perry County Memorial Hospital Sexual Abstinence - Taylor Middle School Futures First - St. Anthony Memorial Health Centers Grant County Project RESPECT - Family Service Society, Inc. Project RESPECT - Our Place, Inc. Mitchell Community Schools RESPECT Program Southeast/South Central Indiana AHEC Hoosier Uplands Creating Positive Relationships in Jefferson and Switzerland Counties - The King’s Daughter’s Hospital and Health Services Building Healthy Relationships - True Life Choices, Inc. Teens Choose - St. Francis Neighborhood Health Center North Lawrence Community Schools RESPECT Program Southeast/South Central Indiana AHEC Hoosier Uplands Campaign For Our Children, Noble County, Inc. |