State lawmakers approved a measure March 9 to require schools teaching sexual education to push abstinence as the preferred behavioral choice.

The controversial bill would mandate primary and secondary schools spend more time teaching abstinence than any other method of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

After being passed by the Senate last year, the Assembly approved the measure, called Senate Bill 286, in March.

"I think it's very, very important that young people hear that message and hear it loud and clear: if you want to be healthy and you want to be 100 percent healthy, the only way is abstinence," SB 286 author Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, said.

While Lazich said the bill is "common sense," the measure's opponents view it as quite the opposite.

According to women's reproductive-rights groups like Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin and the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, SB 286 ignores the reality of teenage sexual activity and denies individuals comprehensive information.

"This bill doesn't tell people any of the medically accurate facts that they need to protect their own health," NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Executive Director Kelda Helen Roys said.

Roys added a comprehensive sexual education should include alternatives to abstinence like contraceptive use.

"Abstinence is a key part to sex education, but that's where you start and not where you end," she said. "The bottom line is there is going to come a point when they will have sex, and where are they going to learn these very important facts if not in school?"

PPAWI Vice President of Public Affairs Lisa Boyce agreed, adding the state missed a critical opportunity to amend the bill and ensure schools teach a comprehensive curriculum.

But the proposed amendment, along with an amendment requiring schools to notify parents they are not providing students with a comprehensive education, failed.

Lazich and bill supporters, however, argue teaching about contraception will only promote teenage promiscuity, pregnancy and STIs.

"It's a false sense of security to use birth-control pills and think that one will not get a ST[I]," she said. "To me, this is a no-brainer. I think that anyone that would be against this [bill] is encouraging the sexual behavior of minors and has their head in the sand."

Boyce, however, said it is misinformed to think that simply discussing alternative methods is dangerous, adding that promoting seat-belt use does not encourage car accidents.

Gov. Jim Doyle must approve SB 286 before it can go into effect. While bill opponents are hopeful the governor will veto the measure, the outcome is currently uncertain.

Another measure currently awaiting Doyle's review is a bill aiming to cap the non-economic damages awarded in medical-malpractice lawsuits at $750,000.

The governor vetoed similar legislation last year, dismissing the proposed caps of $450,000 and $550,000 for adults and minors, respectively, on grounds of unconstitutionality.

According to Doyle's spokesperson Dan Leistikow, the governor supports a cap but wants to ensure an arbitrary cap does not infringe on the rights of malpractice victims.

"The governor's looking at it," Leistikow said. "He wants to get a legal opinion that this has a chance at being upheld by the [state] Supreme Court."

The court overturned a cap of $445,755 last year, ruling an arbitrary monetary limit on pain and suffering awards was unconstitutional.