In the Assembly Budget committee hearing today, Assemblyman Jay Webber gave a colorful opposition to funding the Planned Parenthood organization. 7.3 million dollars was stripped from this organization in the proposed budget. Members who were urging to get funding for the organization came to testify. Assemblyman Webber also came prepared to oppose the organization with a brocure titled, "Healthy Happy and Hot: a young persons' guide to rights, sexuality and living with HIV."
Even though Webber tried to filter his audience with a warning regarding the, "sexually explicit material." The appalled looks on most individuals in the room made it apparent that his forewarning was not taken seriously enough. He stated, "This brochure goes on to urge adolescents to have fun explore and be yourself." Before getting interrupted by Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, Webber went on to state, "Sex can feel great and can be really fun. Many people think sex is just about vaginal or anal intercourse, but there are lots of different ways to have sex and lots of different types of sex. Sex can include kissing, touching, licking, tickling, sucking..." Quigley interrupted him by asking, "Assemblyman is this absolutely necessary?" She continued by stating, "you don't like their philosophy but I don't see what it has to do with women's health and it doesn't have anything to do with this bill." Quigley was clearly personally insult by the material, but that only seemed to give Webber the ammunition he was looking for as he stated, "If your offended by it then I think we should vote against the bill."
Webber found fault with subsidizing an organization, which makes material that he finds offensive, available to young children. However this was not his only problem with the Planned Parenthood organization. He also finds fault with the availability of their abortions. In the
testimony, the cost savings by abortion were analyzed. Webber stated, "What really starts to offends me about this debate is the suggestion that there is a cost savings to the state for preventing children." He reflected with, "Its not about preventing births it's about preventing births to women of lesser means."
Despite Webber's efforts to stop this bill from leaving committee, it passed the committee and will be voted in the Assembly on Monday.
Besides shocking and entertaining the public, Webber also gave a lesson on the topic of Sexual Education. Although, it seems clear that Webber has no intention of changing professions, today's display enlightened the public to his gift of teaching. While the final decision of funding to Planned Parenthood is tentative, Assemblyman Jay Webber's calling to the health teacher profession seems solid.
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Oh, god forbid teenagers get positive information about having healthy sexual activity. Do we really think they're not going to do it until they read a brochure? Newflash, folks, they're already interested and many are already active. Providing them with frank, positive information is the best thing we can do. Treating sex like it is wrong, dirty and offensive in any context is doing a disservice to our young people. The backward steps we've taken with sex education in the last 20 years are disturbing. I vividly remember my health teacher talking in an educated and mature manner about the positive and negative sides of sex back in the early to mid 90s.
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