Every 10 minutes in Texas a teenager becomes pregnant. A new proposed bill would attempt to help reduce the epidemic of teenage pregnancies, educate women on sexually transmitted diseases, creating an outreach program to let women know what is available to them in the state, and changing how funds are spent.

This bill would provide the school systems with more funding to alter their sex education classes. The sex education classes would focus more on prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and the use of contraception. The bill would also launch an outreach program to educate women about sexually transmitted diseases and the resources available to them in the state, such as free contraceptives through health departments and sexually transmitted disease information and prevention.

If passed, sex curricula in schools would have immediate oversight from their boards of trustees and parents, according to the legislation. Resources would also be focused on expanding family planning and the role of the Women's Health Program. The program provides low-income women with critical medical testing, such as pap smears, through Texas Medicaid, according to its Web site.

An unspecified chunk of state money would also fund an outreach campaign designed to teach sexually transmitted disease and pregnancy prevention tactics and highlight services available to women in those situations.

I think this bill might be a step in the right direction and much better than the proposed bill giving cash to women who consider adoption instead of abortion. I’ve always said that while the thoughts behind teaching abstinence are well intentioned, only teaching abstinence is not practical in this day and age. Altering the school’s sexual education curriculum to include the use of contraceptives and sexually transmitted disease prevention is a step in the right direction and perhaps other states will follow in this trend.

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