Catherine Goodwin, left, told state House committee members she opposes House Bill 19-1032, a sex education bill. “Why are you experimenting with these children, some younger than teenagers, and why are you messing with their minds with information that is basically going to be abnormal?” she said Wednesday.

Hart Van Denburg/Colorado Public Radio

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Catherine Goodwin, left, told state House committee members she opposes House Bill 19-1032, a sex education bill. “Why are you experimenting with these children, some younger than teenagers, and why are you messing with their minds with information that is basically going to be abnormal?” she said Wednesday.

Hart Van Denburg/Colorado Public Radio

The biggest hearing of the 2019 legislative session to date – on the future of sex education in Colorado – brought hundreds of people to the state Capitol on Wednesday.

The emotional, and at times graphic, hearing wrapped up just before midnight, when the Democratic measure cleared the House Health and Insurance Committee on a party-line vote.

House Bill 19-1032 updates a comprehensive sex education law passed in 2013 and sets aside money to help smaller school districts fund the program.

Under the new policy, abstinence-only curriculum is prohibited. The legislation adds Colorado to the small number of states in the country that explicitly require schools to teach students about consent.

Read the rest of the story at Colorado Public Radio.