Live From the State House and Vermont Finale

Vermont has definitely passed an Oregon bill - but worse - and the governor will sign today.  It took the death lobby eight years, countless treasure and incredible arm-twisting.  Remember: Maine and Connecticut stopped bills in committee in the last few weeks and, of course, MASSACHUSETTS overcame a 50-point deficit to defeat at polls.   Hearings today were supposed to go from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.  At 1:00 pm, the Committee actually moved to Gardner Auditorium.  By that point, Linda Thayer and Marie O'Donnell had been called.  Everyone else testified in favor of HB 450, "An act relative to healthy youth," which is about sex ed.  According to the people testifying, HB-450 would solve all problems in society.  Here are some provisions:   Sexual Health education shall…stress the importance of effectively using contraceptives and barrier methods to prevent unintended pregnancy and STI's Teach the students the skills to effectively negotiate and implement safer sexual activity Information on abstinence may not be provided separate from information on contraceptives and disease prevention Sex ed must be consistent with the Massachusetts Comprehensive Health curriculum framework establish a procedure to enable parents to bring to the attention of the department any sexual health curriculum or program which they believe is inconsistent with the requirements of this act counts the number of students who opt out of sexual heal ed Does not seek to determine whether schools have notified parents explicitly as to sex ed content        The problem, among others, is that this is "Opt out."  As Representative Betty Poirier testified, it is necessary that these programs be "Opt in," so that parents can exercise their rights and responsibilities.  HB-433, HB-466, require that parents "opt in" their children to these kinds of classes.   Please write a little testimony in favor of HB-433, HB-466 and opposed to HB-450  Send it to the Chairs: Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, 617-722-1673 Sonia.Chang-Diaz@masenate.gov  and Representative Alice Peisch 617-722-2070 Alice.Peisch@mahouse.gov.  Be sure to include your name and address and request that your testimony be shared with entire committee.   At the hearings, I met a number of wonderful pro-life people I hadn't known.  You are the best!  Anne