Florida should reverse course on its “harmful” abstinence-only requirements for public school health classes and allow schools to teach a comprehensive sex education curriculum, according to a letter sent to state leaders Thursday from seven Democrats serving in Congress.

“Abstinence-only programs have been consistently proven ineffective, damaging to students’ health, and discriminatory against the LGBTQ+ community,” read the letter from the Florida congressional members. “This directive is another extremist attack on evidence-based, data-driven policies.”

The letter was sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz from U.S. Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Hollywood; Kathy Castor, D-Tampa; Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Ft. Lauderdale; Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach; Maxwell Frost, D-Orlando; Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee; and Frederica Wilson, D-Miami.

When asked for comment, the Florida Department of Education pointed to a post by Diaz on social media. On X, Diaz did not respond directly to the letter but criticized the representatives for not contacting his department after Hurricane Helene struck Florida last week.

“While Florida is recovering from Hurricane Helene, Congressional Democrats are focused on pushing their sexual ideology on children,” Diaz wrote Thursday, adding, “The message is clear: Democrats only care about your kids being in school if they can indoctrinate them.”

David Damron, a spokesperson for Wasserman Shultz, called Diaz’s response “another damning non-answer from MAGA extremist Republicans” and said the Republican stance on sex education was “indefensible.”

He also defended congressional Democrats’ response to Hurricane Helene.

“Democrats across our state and country continue to help Floridians and other families still reeling from Helene,” Damron said in an emailed statement. “And those recovery efforts certainly won’t stop, even as we continue to fight for lower prices, defend women’s reproductive freedoms and protect our children in school.”

In recent months, state officials told school districts to “emphasize abstinence” and not to teach teenagers about contraception, show pictures of human reproductive anatomy, or discuss topics such as sexual consent or domestic violence, the Orlando Sentinel reported in September.

The Congressional Democrats argued that while Florida law directs schools to promote sexual abstinence, it does not prohibit districts from also teaching a more comprehensive program.

Because of the state’s directive, Orange County Public schools scrapped its own sex education curriculum for teenagers. The now-defunct 600-page plan stressed abstinence but also provided instruction on birth control, how pregnancy occurs and what consent means. Now, the district plans to use a state-approved textbook focused on abstinence.

The state’s education department told school districts about the required changes during phone calls in recent months. Those came almost a year after school districts submitted their reproductive health lessons to the state for approval, as required by a new state law.

Last September, the education department told school districts they had to send in their plans for review or use state-approved textbooks for those lessons. Previously, local school boards oversaw approval of their own sex education materials.

The letter from the congressional members called the year-long delay an “intentional attempt to sabotage” healthy sex education.

“School districts deserve timely, formal guidance on constructing their curriculum and your actions have created major disruptions to our institutions and the students they serve,” the letter read.

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