TX lawmaker fights against plan to ban Planned Parenthood from public schools

By Ryan Poppe, Texas Public Radio News

AUSTIN – A state senator vows to fight against a bill banning Planned Parenthood from teaching sex ed in public schools.

Social conservatives are calling for more restrictions on sex education classes in public schools.  A Senate committee addressing the issue has moved that bill forward, allowing it to be heard on the Senate Floor.  San Antonio Democrat Sen. Leticia Van DePutte voted against the bill in committee.

LETICIA VAN DEPUTTE:  “I was concerned that the language in the bill, that had the term “abortion provider”, that the way that our Department of Health classifies miscarriages, and if a woman has an incomplete miscarriage the doctor has to perform what they call a DNC.  And that’s listed as an abortion…”

She says that puts a woman at risk.  Van DePutte says parents and local entities should be allowed to decide the type of sex education a student is taught, something she’ll be advocating when the bill comes up for a vote.

VAN DEPUTTE:  “The parents have the authority, if they don’t want their child participating in the sex education component, they pull them out.  They have the ability to pull them out or to say I don’t like this provider.”

Over half of Texas school districts don’t have a sex ed class, several relying on an abstinence-only type of instruction.  The bill that permanently bans the group Planned Parenthood from public schools will be heard on the Senate Floor in the coming days.