‘Abstinence Only’ Program Prompts Lawsuit in Calif.
Eleven parents from the southern California town of Hemet filed a lawsuit against their children’s school district last week over its decision to adopt a sex-education curriculum the parents contend is “dangerous.”
The lawsuit followed months of protests and fruitless negotiations by parents opposed to the controversial “abstinence only” curriculum. (See Education Week, Oct. 12, 1994.)
Lawyers for Planned Parenthood, which represents the parents, filed the suit in California Superior Court. It claims the curriculum violates a state law requiring that sex-education materials be complete and medically accurate.
The parents are seeking an injunction to prevent the district from using materials, such as those published by Sex Respect, that promote abstinence as the only acceptable form of birth control.