Texas: Sex Education Bill Going Nowhere

A comprehensive sex education bill has essentially died in the Texas House, said its sponsor, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio). The measure, HB 741, would have required state public schools to include discussions on contraceptives in addition to emphasizing abstinence.

Castro said he had secured the Republican votes needed to get the bill out of committee and onto the House floor, but support waned in recent weeks. HB 741 was the only sex education legislation to make any headway during the session.

"To be really honest, I miscalculated it," Castro said of the bill's support. "I thought the Republican committee members would be able to get through the politics and vote to get it out of committee."

Rep. Rob Eissler (R-The Woodlands), chair of the Public Education Committee, said he has not brought HB 741 up for a vote and does not plan to. Though Eissler said it could have cleared the House, the measure's chances in the Senate and then the governor's office were "very doubtful."

Texas has the third-highest teen birthrate in the nation. While state schools are currently not prohibited from teaching about contraceptives, they must stress abstinence as the preferred method.

Dr. Janet Realini, a nationally recognized teen pregnancy prevention expert who helped craft HB 741, called the bill's failure to pass out of committee a "shame, because there's a lot more positive things that Texas could do to help reduce teen pregnancy and STDs."

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