Michigan Democratic lawmakers have sponsored a bill to remove the state’s ban on teaching abortion as a “method of family planning” from the sex education curriculum.
State Rep. Rachel Hood, D-Grand Rapids, introduced an overhaul of Michigan’s sex ed standards, crossing out the sentence: “Clinical abortion shall not be considered a method of family planning, nor shall abortion be taught as a method of reproductive health.”
Hood and 21 other Democratic co-sponsors want to add “information about the effectiveness and safety of all contraceptive methods approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in preventing pregnancy” into the sex ed curriculum. That likely means she wants teachers to discuss with students the abortion pill, which was approved by the FDA in 2000.
Their bill, introduced Nov. 12, says teachers of sex education should provide “nonbiased information about all legally available pregnancy outcomes.”
“The information described in this subdivision must include the importance of prenatal care and the laws of this state that address an individual’s rights and responsibilities related to childbearing and parenting,” the bill says.
In Michigan, abortion is legal up to birth.
Hood’s legislation would add “information about resources related to sexual and reproductive health, reproductive health care, sexual assault and partner violence, how to access those resources, and minors’ and adults’ legal rights to access those resources” to sex ed standards. “Reproductive health care” is often a euphemism for abortion.
Furthermore, if the bill were to pass, students would learn to “[a]ffirmatively recognize that individuals have different sexual orientations and gender identities and, when discussing or providing examples of relationships, be inclusive of various gender relationships.”
Hood did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment. The bill is currently in committee.