Washington State Senate Democrats pass bill to force Washington into the abortion business

Speaks for itself.

For Immediate Release: For Interview Contact:

Senate Democrats pass bill to force Washington into the abortion business

Senate Democrats abuse power by silencing minority voice

OLYMPIA… Today, Senate Democrats shut off debate and passed SB 5629 that eliminates reducing the rate of abortions as a goal of the state’s sex education policies.

“The Democrats cut off debate to keep me from alerting members to the real purpose of the bill, which is to expand state support of abortion,” said Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver.

The following Democrats voted to cut off debate: Senators Brown, Berkey, Eide, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Hatfield, Haugen, Hobbs, Jacobsen, Jarrett, Kauffman, Keiser, Kilmer, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, McDermott, Murray, Oemig, Prentice, Pridemore, Ranker, Regala, Rockefeller, Sheldon, Shin, and Tom.

The measure eliminates as the Department of Health’s current mandate to “reduce the rate of illegitimate births and abortions” and replaces it with, “reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies.”

“If enacted, this would undoubtedly result in an increase in abortions in our state,” warned Holmquist. “Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, no one wants that result.”

“The goal of sex education used to be to prevent illegitimate births and abortions among teens,” Sen. Val Stevens, R-Arlington, said. “Today the goal is to prevent ‘unintended pregnancies.’ That means abortion. This bill strikes the word ‘teen,’ which allows them to teach sex education to elementary school students. It’s just not right.”

“This bill is part of a concerted nationwide effort by groups like Planned Parenthood to cut off all abstinence education funding and deny that option to parents,” said Sen. Janéa Holmquist, R-Moses Lake. “Abstinence is a part of medically and scientifically proven sex education, and parents want abstinence education to be taught in an effective manner. So how does taking one of the tools out of the ‘sex education toolbox’ help Washington families?”

Senate Bill 5629 passed 33-14 with Republican Senators Becker, Benton, Carrell, Delvin, Hewitt, Holmquist, Honeyford, McCaslin, Morton, Roach, Schoesler, Stevens, Swecker, and Zarelli opposing the bill.

“This bill allows government to ignore the option of abstinence funding and crafting sex ed programs,” said Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester.

In 2007, the Legislature passed a sex education bill that requires every public school that offers sexual health education to assure that it is medically and scientifically accurate. Holmquist rejected Department of Health officials’ claim that the comprehensive sex-ed law puts the state in conflict with the federal abstinence education grant program and makes Washington ineligible to receive funds.

According to federal standards, these funds do not have to be used by schools for abstinence education instruction. Nothing prevents a state with a comprehensive sex education program from requesting and receiving these funds for the benefit of community-based abstinence education programs that do meet federal standards.

“This bill would unnecessarily hurt community-based abstinence programs, like Teen-Aid in Spokane, that are proven to be effective,” said Stevens.

At least 11 states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee and Utah) use federal abstinence education funding to distribute funds through community grants or faith-based programs.

In Iowa, for example, the state requires comprehensive sex education to be taught in schools, but still receives funding under Title V, Section 510 because it distributes grants to eight community-based abstinence programs.

“Why shouldn’t Washington do the same?’ said Holmquist. “Why should we reject federal funds, which are Washington’s fair share of the money our taxpayers send to D.C. It just doesn’t make sense to reject these funds, especially at a time when we are facing an 8.3 billion dollar budget deficit.”

According to a 2005 state Department of Health study, teen pregnancy rates peaked in 1989 at about 9.6 percent for girls ages 15-19. During the early and mid-1990s, those rates fell slightly, down to 8.9 percent in 1993 and 7.4 percent in 1997.

However, once abstinence education began being taught in the late 1990s, the state witnessed an even more dramatic decrease in teen pregnancy rates:

• 6.6 percent in 1999;

• 5.9 percent in 2001;

• 5.3 percent in 2003; and

• 5.08 percent in 2005.

Senate Bill 5629 now moves to the House for further consideration. The Senate passed a similar measure last year, but it died in the House.

“Abstinence education has played an undeniably significant role in the reduction of teen pregnancy and abortions in Washington state,” Benton concluded. “If DOH is allowed to completely cut off federal abstinence funding, the will of parents will be undercut and abstinence education will be boiled down to a one sentence footnote.”

—30—

For more information contact Booker Stallworth
at (360) 786-7536 or stallworth.booker@leg.wa.gov.

Please visit our Web site at www.senaterepublicans.wa.gov.

Please visit our Web site at www.SenateRepublicans.wa.gov and follow our updates on Twitter.