Senate votes for flexibility on sex ed

Published 10:47 pm Monday, February 18, 2008

OLYMPIA — The Washington Senate has voted to end the mandate that the state Department of Health apply for abstinence-only sex education grants, giving flexibility to an agency described as caught in a legalistic Catch 22.

For the past decade, state law has required the agency to apply for federal grants, worth about $800,000 a year, to teach school children the importance of abstaining from premarital sex. But lawmakers passed a conflicting mandate last year that requires sex-ed classes to provide “medically accurate” information that also teaches about condoms and contraceptives.

Last year’s grant was used for an abstinence-focused advertising campaign and a media-literacy program that teaches kids how to resist sex-saturated media messages.

Until 2006, states had some flexibility about use of the money, but last year, the Bush administration issued a new policy requiring applicants to emphasize abstinence as the expected standard for all school-aged children and the only certain way to avoid unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease.

The state agency’s question was whether including information on other methods is permitted — and whether it can legally spend the money if it violates the sex-ed law.

The Washington Post reported that at least 14 states are refusing to apply for the abstinence-only grants, and quoted federal officials as saying that Washington and Ohio had applied but were “effectively making themselves ineligible” by stipulating they would use the money for “comprehensive sex education.”

The legislation passed by the Senate on Monday night removes the mandate that the agency apply for the grants and left open the alternative of passing the money along to nonprofit groups that sponsor abstinence-only programs.

“This gets us out of a Catch 22 situation,” said Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle. “This would give flexibility to the Department of Health and allow for comprehensive education,” including the emphasis on abstinence.

Both abortion rights advocates and foes agreed that reducing abortions and unwanted pregnancy is a goal they can all agree on.

The measure now goes to the House.

Donn Moyer, a state health spokesman, told a Seattle newspaper that his agency’s position hasn’t changed throughout the controversy.

“Our message has consistently been that abstinence education is a very important part of a comprehensive sex-education program, and leaving it out would be irresponsible — just as it would be to ignore medically and scientifically accurate information.

“We’re in the middle. This is a polarizing issue with people with strong opinions on both sides.”