Consent requirement stripped from sex ed bill
Indiana schools don't have to teach kids about consent in sex ed.
Why it matters: More than half of Hoosier kids are sexually active by the time they leave high school, according to a 2023 school-based survey of students.
Nearly a quarter of female students and 1 in 10 male students are physically forced to have sex when they don't want to by the time they're seniors, according to the same survey.
Driving the news: Language that would have required schools to teach the concept of consent to sexual activity was removed during a conference committee meeting this week for Senate Bill 442, a bill that would require schools that teach sex ed to have their curricular materials approved first by their school board.
Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, said he'd rather leave the decision to local school boards.
"This is a sensitive subject for many," Byrne said in a brief conference committee hearing Monday. "I believe there may be different thoughts in different communities. It leaves … local control on making those decisions."
Yes, but: The bill would not let locals decide whether they wanted to show a "high-definition ultrasound video — at least three minutes in duration — showing the development of the brain, heart, sex organs and other vital organs in early fetal development." It would make that a required part of sex ed, if schools chose to teach it.
It also would mandate that schools show students a rendering or animation of the process of fertilization and each stage of fetal development.
What they're saying: "We are talking about teenagers that sometimes don't learn that they can say, 'no,'" said Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute. "We're protecting our youth."
Pfaff, a high school math teacher, amended the consent language into the bill while it was in the House.
The bill's House sponsor, Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, supported the amendment.
Several other Democrats raised concerns about removing the consent language from the bill, and Rep. Becky Cash, R-Zionsville, suggested Byrne add language about age-appropriate teaching of consent as a compromise.
The other side: Byrne said he "understands the concerns" but would be leaving the decisions to local school boards and repeatedly said there wasn't time for more discussion.
The meeting lasted less than 15 minutes.
What's next: The conference committee report could change before it's signed or voted on, but Republicans maintain a supermajority in both chambers and don't need Democrats to sign off on legislative changes at this point in the process.
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