Senate Decides to Emphasize Abstinence in AIDS Classes

In a rare bipartisan effort, the Senate voted Thursday to emphasize in a proposed mandatory education program for teen-age students that abstinence from sexual activity is “the primary” method of preventing the spread of AIDS.

Abstinence would thus be given a significantly stronger recommendation in the program than the use of condoms as a method of preventing the fatal disease, which state health experts estimate will kill 34,000 Californians in the next four years.

The vote was cast on an amendment to a bill by Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) that would require public school students in grades seven through 12 to receive instruction in prevention of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, including the showing of state-approved films. A vote on the full bill, which would cost $337,000 if implemented, was delayed until next week.

Instruction on the causes and prevention of the disease, which can be transmitted sexually, through blood transfusions and through reuse of needles by intravenous drug addicts, would begin in state public schools next fall if the bill is approved. All school districts would be required to offer the program. As with all sex education programs, however, parents would have the option of keeping their children out of the class.

Hart, chairman of the Education Committee, told the Senate that it is imperative that California youngsters receive AIDS education as quickly as possible, noting that health authorities estimate the number of California AIDS cases will reach 50,000 by 1991.

“We are particularly concerned about young people who are sexually active but ignorant,” Hart said.

Sen. Newton R. Russell (R-Tujunga) sponsored an amendment that rewrote a provision of the bill to specify that abstinence from sex was “ the primary” rather than “ a primary” way of preventing AIDS and that other methods, like condoms, may reduce the risk of spreading the disease.

“Abstinence is the only method of eliminating AIDS and the AIDS virus,” he insisted, adding that use of condoms may lull youngsters into a false sense of security because the devices may break.

Hart countered that condoms, if properly used, “do reduce the risk of AIDS.”

Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) told Russell, “Children need to know that AIDS can come from the use and reuse of needles” by drug abusers.

Sen. Art Torres of Los Angeles, usually regarded as a liberal Democrat on AIDS issues, supported Russell’s abstinence proposal, declaring that sexual activity among the young “really ought to be counseled against.”

In an unusually mixed bipartisan roll call, some conservative and moderate Democrats joined with Republicans in voting “aye,” and one Republican, Sen. Becky Morgan of Los Altos Hills, sided with generally liberal Democrats in voting against it. The amendment was approved 18 to 12.

While approving the abstinence amendment, the Senate on similarly mixed votes defeated Russell-sponsored amendments to make the program optional at the discretion of school boards and to allow the state Board of Education to have the final approval of AIDS instructional materials.

Methadone Centers

In a related development Thursday, the Deukmejian Administration issued emergency regulations to relax admissions requirements to methadone treatment clinics as a way of combating AIDS. It also expanded the number of treatment slots

“It’s the first stage in combatting the AIDS problem through the intravenous drug-using population,” said Chauncey L. Veatch III, state director of the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. He said the sharing of contaminated needles among drug users is the leading cause of AIDS transmission among heterosexuals. Intravenous drug users account for 2% of AIDS cases in California, he said.

Methadone, a synthetic narcotic less addictive than heroin, is used by clinics to combat heroin addiction.

Under the emergency rules, which took effect immediately, a patient will be required to have only one year of addiction rather than two, and will not need to have been admitted previously for any treatment of drug abuse. Previous methadone users who returned to heroin now will wait only seven days for readmission instead of nearly one month.

Veatch said it is unknown how many more people will go into the program because of the relaxed standards. Currently, there are 18,000 people undergoing methadone treatment in California. This is the first such step of its kind taken by any state, Veatch said.

Statewide, there are 84 methadone treatment and maintenance sites, including 31 in Los Angeles County. Veatch said there will be no additional cost to the taxpayer for increasing capacity because the methadone program is managed on a fee-for-service basis.