ACLU vs Free to Be

Free To Be, a  Santa Rosa-based sex education program, is being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union for violating California's ban on abstinence-only teaching in public schools. {mp3remote}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/6-8-09.mp3{/mp3remote}

 Although we were not able to reach a Free To Be representative to be interviewed for this report, their website describes a program that "motivates and equips youth to live an abstinent life-style, encouraging healthy choices for a healthy future." They explain their educational approach in greater detail here.

Prior to 2004, explains Phyllida Burlingame, Sex Education Policy Director for the ACLU of Northern California, the state's rules governing how and what schools could teach as Sex Education were a confusing jumble. That's one reason her organization helped update the California Education Code to the standard that is in place today.

{mp3remote}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/background.mp3{/mp3remote}

 One significant difference between the current federal policy, a lingering holdover from the Bush administration, is that while the federal law supporting abstinence-only sex education programs explicitly prohibits favorable treatment of other forms of pregnancy prevention, California's law also requires that abstinence be taught, but as part of a broader array of possible options. {mp3remote}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/abstinence.mp3{/mp3remote}

Below is a list, compiled by the ACLU, of Sonoma County Public Schools that have used Free To Be. They have been asked to confirm, before the end of this month, that they will not continue to use the program in the coming school year.