In early 2000, President George W. Bush pointed out the profound truth: "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"

It is rarely asked, even in a grammatically correct form - especially in Illinois where many assume that our children are already getting all the sexual health education they need to make responsible decisions. In fact, Illinois law does not currently require that sexual health education taught in our public schools be medically accurate or age appropriate. Research demonstrates that high-quality, accurate information enables teens to make healthy and responsible decisions about all aspects of their sexual health – decisions that help the teen today and throughout their lifetime. Recent declines in teen pregnancy, for example, have been linked to better contraceptive use, according to research at Columbia University.

Senate Bill 1619, now before the Illinois Senate Public Health Committee would remedy that situation by requiring that, if a public school in Illinois offers sexual health education, the programs must be medially accurate and developmentally and age appropriate, and include instruction regarding the benefits of delaying or abstaining from sexual activity. Download the Fact Sheet.

SB 1619 will also empower parents - school districts are required to make their curricula available for review, and parents can remove their children from sexual health education courses for any reason. Students cannot be penalized in any way if their parents remove them from a class.

The Senate Public Health Committee will meet on Tuesday at 1 p.m. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for live coverage of the proceedings.

Don't miss WBEZ’s morning news program Eight Forty-Eight this Monday, March 7, at 9:00am. ACLU of Illinois Executive Director, Colleen Connell, will talk about how the current budget cuts and pending federal and state legislation would impede women’s health services in Illinois. Some restrictions are proposed as fiscal reform; others are more direct attempts to restrict access to reproductive health care. The ACLU has opposed all bills that impose drastic and dangerous restrictions on reproductive health care.

If you are unable to tune in live at 9am, Eight Forty-Eight is rebroadcast in the evening at 9pm, and also is available online at http://www.wbez.org/eight-forty-eight.

Two more attacks on women's health care in the House Agriculture Committee:

• House Bill 2093 imposes on private and government employers burdensome training and compliance obligations regarding abuse and neglect reporting, even for staff that have no contact with patients seeking birth control, birth control counseling, sex education, gynecological care and services, abortions, abortion referrals or abortion counseling. Current law already contains rigorous reporting requirements for licensed health care providers, including doctors, nurses and social workers. Imposing these obligations on office staff and secretaries is nothing but an effort to burden these service providers. Download the fact sheet.

• House Bill 3156 seeks to upend the current evident-based regulatory system created and enforced by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) under which abortion facilities have been safely regulated for two decades. The measure will not advance patient health and safety, but will significantly increase costs and decrease access to abortion services in Illinois. 92% of Illinois counties already have no abortion provider. These costly and unnecessary regulations will force many remaining facilities to close – leaving more women without access to essential health care. Download the fact sheet.

Urge members of the House Agriculture Committee to vote NO on House Bill 2093 and House Bill 3156. The committee is next scheduled to meet on Tuesday, March 8th.