MONTGOMERY — Legislation promoting “sexual risk avoidance” in public K-12 schools in Alabama died after Democrat questioning and delays on Tuesday night.
The bill by State Sen. Shay Shelnutt (R-Trussville) would require any sex education or human reproductive curriculum or program in a public K-12 school to exclusively teach sexual risk avoidance and encourage abstinence from all sexual activity. The bill would further provide for the sex education and human reproductive curriculum or program in public K-12 schools, including the provision of information about state laws relating to the financial cost of pregnancy and child care, abortion and adoption, and instruction about parenting responsibilities.
Shelnutt and Democrats debated the bill before the Senate adjourned late Tuesday night, minutes before midnight, without voting on it. The Senate was still in session so late because State Sen. Rodger Smitherman (D-Birmingham) asked for the entire 135-page General Fund budget to be read at length earlier in the day. The procedural delay meant the Senate was stalled for 4.5 hours until the entire budget bill was read.
Shelnutt said the bill’s curriculum would teach about the “harmful effects that sex can lead to.”
“It teaches all the consequences. It mentions about contraceptives but that’s not the first choice. You know, sexual avoidance is truly the best option. It teaches about the statistics saying that marriages last longer if you avoid sex until marriage. You have better marriages. I don’t want a teacher at school teaching my daughters about oral sex, about transgenderism, all those crazy things some entities like to bring on. I don’t understand how anybody can have a problem with this. The parents get the option to opt-out. If they don’t want their kids talked about sexual avoidance then they can opt out of it. Hey, they can teach their kids at home whatever they want to, the crazy stuff they want to teach them, but I don’t want my kids taught that crap. It’s crap,” Shelnutt said on the Senate floor. “We all know sexual avoidance. You should not have sex before marriage. Kids out there are bombarded with a bunch of crap in the media. You’re right. Not all kids are. Some parents do a good job of not letting their kids get on social media and watching out who their kids hang out with. If your parents are doing a crappy job as a parent, that’s the parent’s problem. That’s not my problem. I don’t want teachers, left-wing crazy people teaching my kids about stuff that I don’t ever want them hearing about. If you’ve got a problem with it, you’ve got a problem with it, but this is a good bill.”
State Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison (D-Birmingham) questioned Shelnutt, “I don’t know if the school is the culprit here or the teachers.”
“I just don’t think this bill goes to what you’re trying to get to,” Coleman-Madison said. This bill is going to blanket the whole state, and there are some kids out there who really do need to have knowledge of these things. I am concerned about where we are going with this.”
Shelnutt responded, “Planned Parenthood wants to teach a bunch of crap. They’ve got an agenda.”
“If you want to just stop this bill, go for it. Hey, you’ve got the rules. Rabbit’s got the gun. Let’s go. It’s stopped. That’s OK. There will be consequences. I got rules, too. Just remember that. I’ve got things I can do also,” he added.
Senate bills that haven’t passed the Senate yet are likely dead for the 2025 session, with only four legislative days remaining.
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