GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2013

S                                                                                                                                                    2

SENATE BILL 132

Health Care Committee Substitute Adopted 5/8/13

 

Short Title:        Health Curriculum/Preterm Birth.

(Public)

Sponsors:

 

Referred to:

 

February 26, 2013

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT TO include instruction in the school health education program on the preventable causes of preterm birth, including induced abortion as a cause of preterm birth in subsequent pregnancies, AS RECOMMENDED BY THE NORTH CAROLINA CHILD FATALITY TASK FORCE.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C-81(e1)(4) reads as rewritten:

"(4)      Each local school administrative unit shall provide a reproductive health and safety education program commencing in the seventh grade that includes the following instruction:

a.         Teaches that abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage is the expected standard for all school-age children.

b.         Presents techniques and strategies to deal with peer pressure and offering positive reinforcement.

c.         Presents reasons, skills, and strategies for remaining or becoming abstinent from sexual activity.

d.         Teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain means of avoiding out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases when transmitted through sexual contact, including HIV/AIDS, and other associated health and emotional problems.

e.         Teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous heterosexual relationship in the context of marriage is the best lifelong means of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

f.          Teaches the positive benefits of abstinence until marriage and the risks of premarital sexual activity.

g.         Provides opportunities that allow for interaction between the parent or legal guardian and the student.

h.         Provides factually accurate biological or pathological information that is related to the human reproductive system.

i.          Teaches about the preventable causes of preterm birth, including induced abortion as a cause of preterm birth in subsequent pregnancies.

Materials used in this instruction shall be age appropriate for use with students. Information conveyed during the instruction shall be objective and based upon scientific research that is peer reviewed and accepted by professionals and credentialed experts in the field of sexual health education."

SECTION 2.  To facilitate the implementation of this act, within 60 days of this act becoming effective and annually thereafter, the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, shall provide to the Department of Public Instruction sample educational materials with the most current information available about the preventable causes of preterm birth, including induced abortion as a cause of preterm birth in subsequent pregnancies.

SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2013-2014 school year.