Healthy Youth Act changes sex ed laws

WISCONSIN - Gov. Jim Doyle signed the Healthy Youth Act into law Wednesday. The new law requires schools to teach birth control as part of sex education.

"I think the biggest impact will be on communicating this information to parents probably reassuring them that there aren't going to be any drastic, major changes in what their children are being taught and exposed to," said Kim Ott, director of teaching and learning for the West De Pere School District.

Ott says high school and middle school students in the West De Pere district are taught practical information about contraceptives, with an emphasis on abstinence.

Although that's not the case for every district.

"I was taught basic information on the basic STDs. I wasn't really taught about contraceptives, birth control, things like that," said Brandon Wenger, a senior at Monroe High School.

Wenger considers the new law an improvement for schools because he says students aren't taught enough about birth control.

"They are aware of it, but a lot of them have a certain stigma behind it that isn't true. There's a lot of misinformation because the information is spread by their peers, not by their teachers," said Wenger.

"It really saddens me that this passed," said Vickie Schwahn, a parent who advocates for abstinence.

She's concerned about the new law mandating what is included in sex education. She says it leaves less up to parents and local school boards.

"As a parent all of us parents, who cares about our children more than we do? Who knows what's best for our children more than we do? And we would like a say in what our children are being taught, not having it mandated on the state level, let us as a community decide what is best for our children and our community," said Schwahn.

The new law is signed, though the debate about teaching birth control will no doubt continue.