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2018 SESSION

18104412D
SENATE BILL NO. 843
Offered January 15, 2018
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-207.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to family life education; medically accurate information; human reproduction.
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Patron-- Favola
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Referred to Committee on Education and Health
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 22.1-207.1 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 22.1-207.1. Family life education.

A. As used in this section, "abstinence education" means an educational or motivational component that has as its exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by teenagers' abstaining from sexual activity before marriage.

B. The Board of Education shall develop Standards of Learning and curriculum guidelines for a comprehensive, sequential family life education curriculum in grades kindergarten through 12. Such curriculum guidelines shall include instruction as appropriate for the age of the student in family living and community relationships; the benefits, challenges, responsibilities, and value of marriage for men, women, children, and communities; the value of family relationships; abstinence education; the value of postponing sexual activity; the benefits of adoption as a positive choice in the event of an unwanted pregnancy; human sexuality; medically accurate information on human reproduction; dating violence, the characteristics of abusive relationships, steps to take to deter sexual assault, and the availability of counseling and legal resources, and, in the event of such sexual assault, the importance of immediate medical attention and advice, as well as the requirements of the law; the etiology, prevention, and effects of sexually transmitted diseases; and mental health education and awareness.

C. All such instruction shall be designed to promote parental involvement, foster positive self-concepts, and provide mechanisms for coping with peer pressure and the stresses of modern living according to the students' developmental stages and abilities. The Board shall also establish requirements for appropriate training for teachers of family life education, which shall include training in instructional elements to support the various curriculum components.