Stand up to religious zealots who are trying to sabotage women’s rights. Please spare a few moments to contact Massachusetts legislators and urge them to vote no on an anti-abortion measure pending in the Statehouse.
On Monday, Sept. 13, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Education will decide whether to allow anti-choice educators to insert their religious ideology into the curriculum. H 662 contains a new proposal, for grades seven–nine in all public schools, that would include visual images and ultrasound images of fetal development. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, comprehensive sex education should focus on healthy reproductive development, prevention of sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancy, and sexual expression — not fertility education.
In an attempt to include anti-abortion teachings in sex education, the bill refers to fetuses as “unborn children.” It is sponsored by state Reps. David DeCoste and Joe McKenna, who have tried to defund Planned Parenthood, regulate abortion and oppose expanding reproductive health. H 662 would allow any curriculum on this topic that does not directly contradict information from the National Institutes of Health, inviting teachers to mislead students about the reality of reproductive health care.
Effectively, this bill aims to insert the religious belief that life begins at conception into public school classrooms. Please take a moment to use our automated system to contact the members of the Joint Committee on Education and ask them to oppose this bill.
Talking Points
As a secular voter, I urge you to block the passage of H 662, a bill that aims to insert the religious belief that life begins at conception into public school classrooms. Comprehensive sex education does not require the state to allow teachers to miseducate students about fertility education, and this bill will do more harm than good.
