Mom speaks up after school district bans sex ed while requiring 'battlefield trauma care' training

A mother is speaking out on how she feels about the San Antonio, Texas, school district banning all sex-ed classes and replacing it with battlefield wound care for children. Writer, journalist and parent Jenny Lawson took to Twitter on May 1, to note that her kids' school district has "canceled all sex ed classes this year but is now required to offer kids training in bleeding control techniques, including 'tourniquets approved for use in battlefield trauma care by the armed forces."

An image, attached to her tweet, shows Texas House Bill 1147, titled "Relating to the regulation of bleeding control stations in public schools." The legislation was introduced in March 2023 but was pending in committee. The bill requires every school to instruct students on the use of a “bleeding control station,” which consists of things like "tourniquets approved for use in battlefield trauma," designed "for use in the event of a traumatic injury involving blood loss."

Lawson clarified in a second tweet that the “Stop the Bleed” training policy is currently for middle and high schoolers, but a new bill drops the age of students to third graders. The legislation has been criticized by many, calling it yet another refusal of the state to do anything about the growing cases of gun violence, reports Scary Mommy.

People have even questioned the school district about the importance of the training program being chosen over necessary sex education. Twitter user @Jodie_Griffin wrote, "So it's okay to talk about bleeding from gunshot wounds, but not menstrual bleeding? Make it make sense." @KatiePhang commented, "Third graders are going to be taught bleeding control techniques. That’s 9-year-olds. Unreal."

@thecheesethe5th commented, "How a law can be written that wants 3rd graders taught how to apply tourniquets and chest seals without somebody screaming is beyond me. Horrifying."

Due to the new sex ed laws implemented this year, Lawson's school district canceled sex education. The existing program did not meet the new requirements, and the district committee is now debating between two options: a conservative program called "Heritage Keepers" or an evidence-based program called "Choosing the Best."

At present, Texas is among the five states in the country that gives parents an option to "opt-in" their children into sex education. Texas law does not require sex education in schools, nor does it make health classes mandatory for high school students and the information provided in these classes need not be medically precise. Despite the modifications made to the curriculum in 2022, Texas schools continue to implement an abstinence-centered approach to sex education, overlooking crucial issues such as consent and teenage pregnancy.