“A bill that would require public school children to have instruction in child sexual abuse in grades K-6 and sexual violence in 7-12 has stalled in the Ohio General Assembly thanks to the culture wars.
“The Center for Christian Virtue wants several changes to the bill, not allowing the promotion of gender-affirming care, a statement about abstinence before marriage, not promoting consensual sex between two teenagers, among other statements.
“Child and victim advocates say these provisions have nothing to do with the bill’s intent and might be harmful for abused children.”
(Laura Hancock. “Culture wars may sink bill in Ohio General Assembly on child sexual abuse prevention instruction.” https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/03/culture-wars-may-sink-bill-on-child-sexual-abuse-prevention-instruction-in-ohio-general-assembly.html. March 23, 2022.)
House Bill 105, also known as Erin’s Law, has been introduced five times in the Ohio General Assembly. This legislative session, the Ohio House passed the bill June 10 by a margin of 86-8. The bill requires school districts, charter schools and science, technology, engineering and math or STEM schools to provide child sexual abuse prevention instruction for grades K-6.
For grades 7-12, schools would have to provide age-appropriate instruction in sexual violence prevention. Schools must also provide counseling and resources for students who have been victims of abuse and violence.
But the Center for Christian Virtue is wading into the bill and has circulated a proposed amendment with several changes to HB 105.
The culture wars? These days, a vocal contingency of parents do not trust their kids’ schools. They say they are concerned about liberal ideologies taught to their kids about the history of American racism, social-emotional learning and sex education. Critics say the new fears over indoctrination are invented and a ploy for the GOP to anger and mobilize voters ahead of the November midterm election.
(Laura Hancock. “Culture wars may sink bill in Ohio General Assembly on child sexual abuse prevention instruction.” https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/03/culture-wars-may-sink-bill-on-child-sexual-abuse-prevention-instruction-in-ohio-general-assembly.html. March 23, 2022.)
House Bill 105
SUMMARY
* Requires each school district, community school, and STEM school to
provide annual
age-appropriate instruction in child sexual abuse
prevention for grades K-6.
* Requires each school district, community school, and STEM school to
include age-
appropriate instruction in sexual violence prevention
education for grades 7-12.
* Requires each school district, community school, and STEM school to notify the parents or guardians of students who receive instruction related to dating violence prevention and sexual violence prevention that it is required curriculum and to permit them to examine the instructional materials, upon request.
* Requires the Department of Education to provide on its website links
to free curricula
addressing sexual violence prevention to assist
schools in developing their curricula.
* Requires each school district, educational service center, community school, and STEM school to incorporate training on child sexual abuse into its required in-service training for teachers and other professionals.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Instruction in child sexual abuse prevention and sexual violence prevention.
The bill requires school districts, community schools, and STEM schools to provide both (1) annual age-appropriate instruction in child sexual abuse prevention for students in grades K-6 and (2) age-appropriate instruction in sexual violence prevention education for students in grades 7-12. In the case of a school district, instruction in either topic must be part of the district’s general health curriculum.
The bill further provides that instruction in child
sexual abuse prevention must include
information on available
counseling and resources for children who are sexually abused.
It also requires each
school district, community school, and STEM school to notify
parents
or guardians of students who receive instruction related to dating
violence prevention and sexual violence prevention that it is a
required part of the district’s curriculum. The notification must
include a statement that, upon request, parents or guardians may
examine the instructional materials.
Regarding
sexual violence prevention instruction, the bill provides that, if
the parent or
legal guardian of a student less than 18 years of
age submits to the school’s principal a written request to examine
the instruction materials used at that school, the principal, within
a “reasonable period of time,” must allow the parent or guardian
to examine those materials at that school.
Finally,
the bill requires the Department of Education to provide on its
website links to
free curricula addressing sexual violence
prevention in order to assist schools in developing their own
curricula.
In-service staff training in child sexual abuse prevention
The
bill requires each school district, educational service center,
community school, and
STEM school to incorporate training on child
sexual abuse into its required in-service training for teachers,
nurses, counselors, school psychologists, and administrators. This
training must count toward the satisfaction of requirements for
professional development required by the district, service center, or
school
(Primary Sponsors: Reps. Lipps and Kelly. Allison Schoeppner, Research Analyst. “H.B. 105: Version: As Passed by the House.” Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Office of Research and Drafting. Legislative Budget. Office. www.lsc.ohio.gov. 134th General Assembly. Access: https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/download?key=17384&format=pdf.)
Namesake
Erin Merryn, is a child sexual abuse survivor from Illinois and is the namesake of Erin's Law. She is a national spokesperson for the National Children's Alliance, becoming the first survivor of child sexual abuse that went through a Children's Advocacy Center to speak on national television about her experience.
Merryn suffered sexual abuse by a male neighbor at ages six to eight and by a teenage cousin at ages 11 to 13. According to her personal account, she told her parents about the latter after her sister confided that she had also been abused by the same relative. The family pressed charges, and the cousin eventually confessed to three counts of child sexual abuse. The case did not go to trial, resulting in the cousin receiving "some counseling, but no punishment.”
(Wendy Cole. "Erin's Law: When the Abuser Is No Stranger.” People Magazine. November 29, 2010.)
Merryn has written two books, about her experience, Stolen Innocence, and Living For Today. She has a master's degree in social work and is working to get Erin's Law passed across America at the state and federal level.
Ohio is a special place for Merryn, she said, since her husband is from the state. She said she wants it passed but does not agree with some of the ideas the Center for Christian Virtue have for her bill.
"Growing up in Illinois public schools every year I was educated with my classmates on tornado drills, fire drills, bus drills, stranger danger, and learned the 8 steps to say "NO" to drugs through D.A.R.E.. As a child I never had to take cover because of a real tornado. I never had to stop, drop, and roll or run out of a burning building. I never had to evacuate a school bus due to an emergency, but I had the knowledge to know what to do if any of those situations happened.
“Where was the drill on how to escape a child molester? Where was the lesson plan on sexual abuse, safe touches, and safe secrets? It never came. I was not educated on 'How to Tell Today or How to Get Away.' I was never educated on 'My Body Belongs to Me.'
“When a grown man lay on top of me at 6 1/2 years old and threaten to tie me to a bed if I did not lay still and be quiet as he raped me or when my teenage cousin locked me behind closed doors and warned me 'this is our little secret, no one will believe you, this will destroy our family' as he sexually abused me on a bed I stayed silent.
“When I was raped and sexually abused as a child I did not know what to do. My body seemed to belong to the men that used and abused it was the message I learned, because I was getting no other message."
– Erin Merryn, https://www.change.org/p/pass-erin-s-law-in-ohio-and-help-keep-children-safe
Need In Ohio
Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia are among the 37 states that have already passed Erin’s Law. Ohio and Kentucky remain outliers regionally in their delay in passing this critical legislation. Curriculum mandated by Erin’s Law has spread throughout the nation since first appearing in schools in 2009.
In Ohio, no existing law requires prevention education for our vulnerable K-12 students. This gap in education is especially concerning when we consider that each year in Ohio, over 30,000 children are involved in a substantiated case of child abuse or neglect; of these, 5,000 are related to sexual abuse specifically.
(Ohio Family Violence Prevention Project.)
The stark reality is that
there are far more children suffering sexual abuse in Ohio; only 38%
of child victims of sexual abuse disclose (at any point in their
lifetime) the sexual
abuse they experience.
(K. London, M. Bruck, S. Ceci & D. Shuman. “Disclosure of child sexual abuse: What does the research tell us about the ways that children tell?” Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 11(1), 194-226. 2003.)
This means that over half of child sexual abuse cases go unaddressed. Fear, when combined with a lack of support and education, can prevent children from coming forward to seek help. However, this is a problem that we can, and must, take action to solve together.
Objections
The Christian group's suggestion of having instruction that promotes sexual abstinence until marriage is already in other parts of Ohio law. Ohio’s existing sex education law is clear: When schools provide instruction in venereal disease prevention, they “shall emphasize that abstinence from sexual activity is the only protection that is one hundred per cent effective against unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, and the sexual transmission of a virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.”
Committee Chair Sen. Andrew Brenner, a Delaware County Republican, hasn’t held a hearing on the bill since Oct. 5. He wants the sponsors and the Center for Christian Virtue to negotiate a compromise.
Among the provisions in the Center for Christian Virtue’s amendment:
“The bill should stress that students should abstain from sexual activity until after marriage.”
That “age-appropriate” instruction means no visuals showing couples in sexual situations, children shouldn’t role play scenarios or sexual conversations in the K-6 instruction
That there be no instruction about consent for grades 7-12.
No instruction shall imply that healthy relationships for minor children may include consensual sexual activity.”
Contraception use cannot be demonstrated.
“No instruction shall incorporate materials from groups advocating abortion, marketing contraceptives or cross-sex hormones, or those advocating or condoning sexual behavior among minor children.”
“No instruction should advise that any information be withheld from parents, or imply that parents are untrustworthy, or in any way undermine the parent/ child relationship or the primary role of the family. Very few parents are guilty of sexual abuse of children, and to imply in any way that information should be concealed from most or all parents is unjust and deeply harmful to children and the family relationship.”
No teachers/staff may encourage students to join school-based groups that advocate teen sexual identities and behaviors.
For Lipps and Rep. Brigid Kelly, a Cincinnati Democrat who is also sponsoring the bill, the changes are unacceptable and steer away from the original purpose of Erin’s Law.
“It’s really about trying to prevent kids from being victims, from having to live through a life of trauma,” Kelly said.
Lipps and Kelly recently agreed to a compromise in which parents can choose to opt their children out of receiving the instruction, which is another suggestion from the Center for Christian Virtue expected to soon be amended into the bill. But beyond that, the sponsors aren’t interested in the other provisions the group wants.
Andrew O. Brenner, the chairman of the Senate committee, said in addition to the Center for Christian Virtue, Ohio Value Voters also have concerns with the bill.
“They’re concerned that it is leading to sex ed and promoting a social agenda,” Brenner said. “... There is so much distrust among a large chunk of the electorate over what is going on on these matters in schools -- with the issues around identity, you know students’ identity. They’re concerned that things are going to be taught or promoted that are not along the lines of Erin’s Law.”
Aaron Baer, president of the Center for Christian Virtue, said the amendment in part attempts to prevent Planned Parenthood’s curriculum from making its way into Ohio schools, although Planned Parenthood has not provided testimony on the bill and hasn’t been involved in the drafting of HB 105.
Baer said that his organization wants to continue to work with Lipps and Kelly on the bill to make “sure parents aren’t locked out of this equation, and children aren’t being pushed into more risky behaviors. Then we’ll be in great shape.”
Final Word
It seems to me that abstinence education is already addressed in Ohio law and instruction about sexual abuse prevention should not require abstinence preaching which could be a form of shaming. Victims might blame themselves for their own abuse – a pertinent view of Erin Ostling Burkholder, director of outreach and prevention for Crime Victim Services. Imagine the added psychological harm.
Ostling Burkholder said …
“I think we can still teach an abstinence-only sexual education, curriculum and have a sexual violence, sexual abuse prevention curriculum. Sexual abuse and sex are not the same thing. Rape and sex are completely different. And so to try to say that they are the same or to talk about them in the same way is very harmful. And I think it’s very confusing and misleading, particularly for children.”
(Laura Hancock. “Culture wars may sink bill in Ohio General Assembly on child sexual abuse prevention instruction.” https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/03/culture-wars-may-sink-bill-on-child-sexual-abuse-prevention-instruction-in-ohio-general-assembly.html. March 23, 2022.)
Many precautions have already been addressed. In discussions with the Center for Christian Virtue, Merryn said that her website contains a list of age-appropriate sexual abuse and sexual violence prevention curriculum used in the other states that have Erin’s Law. Examples include “Kid Power,” a curriculum that also includes bullying prevention, abduction and other violence, and “Darkness to Light: End Child Sexual Abuse,” which trains adults in prevention so they can take it to their communities.
And, read this stipulation proposedby the Center for Christian Virtue once more:
* “Very few parents are guilty of sexual abuse of children, and to imply in any way that information should be concealed from most or all parents is unjust and deeply harmful to children and the family relationship.”
* “No teachers/staff may encourage students to join school-based groups that advocate teen sexual identities and behaviors.
Few parents? I would assume that would include guardians – loco parentis? Consider how many children live with close relatives and in foster homes. “Harmful to family relationships”?
Approximately 30% of children who are sexually abused are abused by family members. The younger the victim, the more likely it is that the abuser is a family member. Of those molesting a child under six, 50% were family members. Family members also accounted for 23% of those abusing children ages 12 to 17.
(D. Finkelhor. “Characteristics of crimes against juveniles.” Durham, NH: Crimes against Children Research Center. 2012.)
The existing data suggest that individuals experiencing intra-familial abuse are affected more significantly than those experiencing extra-familial abuse. These instances of abuse were less intrusive (physically) but psychologically they were more intrusive than extra-familial abuse. This justifies the use of different strategies in the diagnosis and support for victims within the family.
(T. Magalhães et. al. “Sexual abuse of children. A comparative study of intra and extra-familial cases.” J Forensic Leg Med. 2009.)
Child sexual abuse is far more prevalent than most people realize. In fact, child sexual abuse is likely the most prevalent health problem children face with the most serious array of consequences. About one in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. About one in seven girls and one in 25 boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18. And, this year, there will be about 400,000* babies born in the U.S. that will become victims of child sexual abuse unless we do something to stop it.
(C. Townsend & A.A. Rheingold. “Estimating a child sexual abuse prevalence rate for practitioners: studies.” 2013. Charleston, S.C. “Darkness to Light.” Retrieved from www.D2L.org.)
And, finally, “no teacher encouraging school-based groups on teen sexual identities and behaviors”? Just who in the hell do these folks believe sponsor and supervise these “school-based groups”? Believe me, such clubs or organizations don't just “pop up” and receive school support without administrative approval. Then the administrators approve faculty to work supplemental contracts that fall within the scope of approved school outcomes.
I'm sure the same Christian folks want Bible Clubs and other Christian observances within school walls. “Encourage” and “permit” are two different words, but I fear the Center For Christian Virtue seeks to stamp out diversity and any trace of alternate gender in their proposed amendment language. Gender (“sexual identity”) and sexual abuse (harm) are two different subjects.
What is most important in this discussion of appropriate instruction to prevent sexual abuse? The child. Period. “Consent,” “contraception,” and “sexual identity” are subjects that every child will eventually explore – you can debate the means of the exploration ad infinitum. Parents want and deserve much input, but my own personal experience is that they do very little – the most minimal amount – of sexual instruction with their own children. We should break the old taboos and use clinical research to help guide us with proper education to save the minds, the bodies, and the lives of Ohio children.
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