New Jersey Senate Votes to Emphasize Abstinence in Sex Ed Courses

Sex education teachers would be required to emphasize abstinence under legislation approved Monday by the New Jersey Senate. The legislation, which has already been approved by the Assembly, goes to Acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco, who voted Monday in favor of the bill. Supporters of the legislation say children need to know that abstinence is the only certain method to prevent pregnancy and STDs. "If we're going to teach certain things, we have to teach the positive and negative about those things," said Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen), who supported the legislation. Opponents say the measure will hurt children by taking valuable classroom time away from subjects such as contraception. "The teachers only have a very small amount of time in which to teach comprehensive sex education," said Elizabeth Volz, president of the New Jersey chapter of the National Organization for Women. "If they have to prove that they talked about abstinence every time they talk to the kids, the kids will lose a lot of very important information."

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