Film promotes sex education

By Jordan Sargent

Published Jan. 23, 2007

The decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, which stated that laws against abortion violated a woman's right to privacy under the 14th Amendment, still stands as one of the most divisive judgments ever passed down in the history of the United States Supreme Court — even some 34 years after the fact.

Most see the debate as two-sided: either one is for or against abortion. The organizers of the Monday night showing of the film "The Education of Shelby Knox" in Jesse Wrench Auditorium made it no mystery about which side they were on, but they took a different approach to the usual black-and-white argument.

By showing "The Education of Shelby Knox," Planned Parenthood, in conjunction with Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom and the Feminist Student Union, aimed to shed light on what they believe to be the importance of comprehensive sexual education.

"Education is the key to change," SYRF intern MJ Ryan said. "This movie can open people's minds into looking at reproductive freedom as an education issue, not just an abortion issue."

Michelle Trupiano, a lobbyist and the Mid-Missouri public affairs manager for Planned Parenthood, said comprehensive sexual education centers on educating children about contraceptive devices and birth control rather than just abstinence.

"We can't just bury our heads in the sand and pretend like this isn't going on," she said.

"The Education of Shelby Knox," which has aired at the Sundance Film Festival and on PBS' "Point of View" series, is a documentary that tells the story of a Lubbock, Texas, girl who fights her town's abstinence-only education.

Ellen Baker of Planned Parenthood said the film was chosen because it focuses on the role of education in preventing the need for women to have abortions, rather than abortions being the only option.

"Instead of showing a movie on abortion, we chose one on education because there is a bill in the Missouri legislature that would allow for comprehensive sex-ed to be taught in schools," she said. "It's important for people to understand what's going on with sexual education so that women don't need to have abortions."

MU was chosen as one of the locations for the film because the three organizations hope to motivate students to take action on the issue.

In an address to the mostly college-aged audience before the start of the film, Trupiano said various sexual education bills that have been introduced into the Missouri General Assembly are important.

"Every year we have to fight against bills that want to ban a woman's right to an abortion," she said. "And we're here tonight to learn how to fight and move on."