Planned Parenthood targets Tempe schoolchildren

WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom Attorney Natalie Decker

WHAT: Available for media interviews immediately following Tempe Union High School District’s Sex Education Curriculum Committee meeting

WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 7, immediately following meeting, which begins at 4:30 p.m. MST

WHERE: Tempe Union High School District, Large Conference Room, 500 W. Guadalupe Rd., Tempe

TEMPE, Ariz. — Alliance Defending Freedom Attorney Natalie Decker will be available to media immediately following Tempe Union High School District’s Sex Education Curriculum Committee meeting Tuesday. Planned Parenthood of Arizona is scheduled to advocate for representatives to present sex education to students, which may violate state law requiring preference be given to childbirth and adoption, not abortion.

 

Alliance Defending Freedom sent the district a letter Monday requesting the committee allot time during its meeting to speakers to present alternative programs that encourage and support childbirth and adoption as preferred options to elective abortion. According to the committee’s published agenda, Planned Parenthood of Arizona has one-and-a-half hours to promote its abortion-promoting sex education program while citizens will have less than 15 minutes to express their views on this issue.

 

“Schoolchildren have the right to a positive education that is not dictated by Planned Parenthood’s abortion marketing campaign,” said Decker. “It would be a terrible mistake for the district to allow Planned Parenthood to teach sex education to students. Students and parents deserve better. This is a very important issue which requires much more time to present and consider than has been allotted to the public. There are many viable alternative programs available at no cost to the district that support abstinence, childbirth, and adoption instead of abortion.”

The Alliance Defending Freedom letter explains that Arizona Senate Bill 1009 was enacted in April 2012 and “mandates that no Arizona school district ‘may allow any presentation during instructional time or furnish any materials to pupils as part of any instruction that does not give preference, encouragement and support to childbirth and adoption as preferred options to elective abortion.’”

 

“Planned Parenthood should not be allowed access to public school classrooms to promote its pro-abortion message and to advocate for dangerous sexual behavior to Tempe schoolchildren,” added Senior Counsel Michael J. Norton. “We hope the committee and the district will reevaluate their decision and provide students with a curriculum that promotes life, human dignity, and is truthful about the dangers of sexual promiscuity.”