From the Texas Tribune: How a little-known group convinced the Texas State Board of Education to reject lesson plans on consent

A look at how well organized groups can impact the legislative process.

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Millions of students returning to public schools across Texas are encountering fallout from a battle over the state’s first major update to sex education and health standards in more than two decades.

A Newsy investigation revealed how an advocacy group helped convince the Texas State Board of Education to strike lessons about consent from the state’s planned health education standards for the 2022-23 school year. The board’s decision went against the advice of medical experts and organizations promoting teen sexual health, which say comprehensive sex education helps reduce rape and unwanted pregnancies.

“It’s not an open communication — to talk about sex,” said 17-year-old Kennia Gonzalez, a senior at Brownsville Early College High School in Texas. Gonzalez said her high school does not teach any form of sex education beyond abstinence. “Teachers aren’t supposed to talk about it with students,” she said.

In fact, Texas high schools are not required to offer students sex education, and if they do, parents must opt in for their children to receive it. State regulations now require those schools that choose to teach the topic to emphasize “the centrality of abstinence education in any human sexuality curriculum.”

The state of Texas’ high hopes for convincing teens to say no to sex do not appear to be having the intended impact. A 2019 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey of Texas youths showed that nearly two-thirds of high school seniors report having had sex. Texas has the ninth-highest teen birth rate in the U.S., and the state tops the nation in repeat teen births.

Gonzalez said with no sex education being taught by her school, some of her classmates are left with dangerous gaps in their understanding of healthy sex and relationships.