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The Daily Tar Heel

Opinion: Proposals to limit sex education patronize youth

This editorial board tends toward a fairly liberal set of sensibilities, and as such, we don’t expect to always agree with the doings of a predominantly Republican state legislature.

But we can’t abide the obvious contempt for reality demonstrated in House Bill 596, which would prohibit the teaching of contraceptive methods like Plan B in public schools. Rep. Chris Whitmire, R-Henderson, and Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake, are primary sponsors.

It is in this bill that the scientific facts of emergency contraception, which prevents fertilization from occurring, are reduced to a debatable political stance.

Neither the science behind contraceptive methods like Plan B, which have inexplicably been targeted by the bill’s backers for causing “spontaneous abortions,” nor the preferable life outcomes that result from honest sex education are debatable.

We are reminded of a previous effort by the state’s General Assembly to legislate away the reality of coastal sea-level rise, and we are very, very scared.

By foisting their own ignorance upon North Carolina’s young people and restricting their knowledge of best sexual practices, this bill’s backers ensure a future wherein the state’s women are needlessly uninformed and disempowered.

Any politician with an ounce of respect for his or her constituents should vocally oppose this patronizing legislation.

At best, it betrays an inexcusable ignorance of the science that governs peoples’ lives. At worst, it suggests a desire to govern by religious principle alone, science and quality of life be damned.

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