SEX EDUCATION: Davis Signs ‘Medically Accurate’ Bill

      Gov. Davis signed a bill Wednesday that would require all sex education teachers to provide information that is "medically accurate and free of racial and gender bias." AB 246 was authored by Assemblymen Jim Cunneen (R-Cupertino) and Mike Honda (D-San Jose), and sponsored by Planned Parenthood of California. "The new standards ensures students will receive honest, medically accurate information that supports abstinence and helps young people make responsible health decisions, said Katherine Kneer, CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. "Despite overwhelming public support for responsible sex education, we continue to find school districts adopting medically inaccurate and fear-based sex education curricula which places young people at risk for HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections," Kneer added. Currently, school-based sex education curricula must emphasize abstinence as the only 100% effective prevention method against pregnancy and STDS (PPAC release, 8/26).