(Washington) A bill in Florida, where Republicans recently introduced a series of highly controversial texts, could ban education on menstrual cycles in school for little girls, preventing them from discussing it with their teachers , acknowledged an elected official from this state this week.
During a session of a committee on education in the Florida parliament, an elected Democrat, Ashley Gantt, questioned her Republican colleague on the possibility that sex education could only take place from a certain class, in which the children are usually between 11 and 12 years old.
“Does this bill prohibit conversations about menstrual cycles? asked Ashley Gantt. If little girls are younger than the set age, “would that prohibit discussions on their part?” »
“Yes, it would,” replied Stan McClain.
Most girls get their first period between the ages of 12 and 13, but some may get it several years earlier, according to the American Association of Gynecologists and Obstetricians.
“Imagine a little girl […] going to the bathroom and finding blood in her panties, and thinking she was going to die,” Ashley Gantt said. “And his teacher doesn’t even get to tell him that’s part of life. »
The first period can happen “anytime between the ages of 9 and 16,” said Annie Filkowski, Florida lead for the family planning organization Planned Parenthood, in a statement. “It’s ridiculous to prevent (kids) from discussing it with their teacher,” she added, calling the bill “absurd.”
Stan McClain clarified a little later that the spirit of this bill was not to punish young girls asking questions to their teachers, and that it was open to amendments, according to several American media.
This text by Mr. McClain is part of a set of bills that could permanently transform the education system in Florida.
The governor of this southern US state, Ron DeSantis, is openly flirting with a 2024 presidential bid and has pledged to make his state a laboratory for conservative ideas.
At the beginning of the month, he presented a series of measures, which also targeted, for example, access for transgender minors to treatments that block puberty, among other things, or even access to abortion.
Schools should provide “quality education” not “political indoctrination”, he said.
All these texts have a very good chance of being adopted given the enormous influence which the 44-year-old Republican enjoys on his party, which has the majority in both houses of the Florida parliament.
