Texas State Legislature: Apparently Teens Can't Handle Sex Ed

While Texas Republicans advocate abstinence and reducing abortion rates, their platform has received ample criticism in the past week due to their new proposal banning sex education. Apparently sex education causes pregnancies by sexually arousing teenagers.

According to Texas Republican Represenative Steve Toth, teenagers probably wouldn't even think about getting busy if it weren't for those sex-ed classes getting them all "hot and bothered.” He was caught making this argument following the House Affairs Committee’s move to pass expansive abortion legislation.

The Texas Freedom Network, an organization fighting against the religious right’s control of Texas, helped shed light on this issue by explaining the relationship between sexual ignorance and unplanned pregnancies: that sex education actually reduces the number of pregnancies.

Even though Toth has refused to accept the data, studies have supported three facts proving he is wrong. A 2012 study found no evidence that formal sex education leads teens to initiate in sexual activity earlier or to engage in greater risk taking. Another study in 2007 reported that two-thirds of the top 48 programs that supported abstinence, condom use, and contraceptives had positive behavioral effects. The third study proved that access to contraception dramatically reduces unplanned pregnancies and abortions.

It is ironic that a Republican representative would oppose a program that is proven to reduce the amount of unplanned pregnancies and therefore number of abortions.  Even anti-abortion activists asked Rick Perry to help and decrease abortion numbers by adding sex education.  It is important to note that teenagers have unlimited access on their phones and computers to porn and the internet. So preventing children from learning about their bodies and sex will not prevent them from being exposed to it. Texas Republican politicians just do not get it.

This is not the first dangerous bill to come from Toth. In the last year alone he has proposed a ban on federal gun bans in Texas, allowing Texas police officers to arrest federal gun enforcement agents, and a bill that requires no parole for repeated sex offenders.

It is clear that politicians such as Steve Toth and Rick Perry do not care about enhancing our societies, but have alternate agendas. How can they want to ban contraceptives and abortions? It is absurd. Do women really want these ignorant men making decisions about their body?

After the Texas Republicans cheated their way to a vote for abortion, it’s no wonder that citizens are beginning to get worried about the Republicans' extreme actions in Texas. These bans are senseless and are only restricting freedoms.