AUSTIN — Texas education officials have tapped four “content experts,” including an anti-abortion doctor who refuses to prescribe birth control, to help shape how public schools teach students about sexual health, a move that has outraged children’s advocates concerned with high teen pregnancy rates in Texas.

This is the first time in more than 20 years the State Board of Education will update its health standards for lessons about healthy eating, mental health and sex education as the state ranks fourth-highest in the nation for teen birth rates and fifth-highest for high school obesity. However, board members are bracing for ideological battles over the new standards between conservatives who control the board, liberal board members, and children’s advocates.

“We didn’t start on the right foot,” said Georgina Pérez, a Democrat from El Paso and member of the State Board of Education who said she is frustrated with the makeup of the panel. “We live in a state of 25 million plus Texas citizens. I think that we could have come up with seven individuals who were not controversial and really just did want to provide a great service to public education.”

The appointees include anti-abortion activist Dr. Mikeal Love, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Austin who refuses to prescribe birth control and has collected at least $46,000 testifying as an expert on behalf of the state of Texas. Love, who has also testified before the state Legislature, has defended abortion restrictions passed by the lawmakers in five lawsuits since 2013. He referred to pregnant women as “hosts” in court documents, later justifying the term by comparing pregnancy to a foreign-exchange student living with a host family.

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Most recently, Love was hired by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office to help Texas defend a law requiring the burial or cremation of the remains of an abortion or failed pregnancy, testifying that embryos and fetuses are people. The judge ruled the fetal burial law unconstitutional and the case is on appeal at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Love, who retired from his practice this month, did not respond to a request for comment.

Love and others on the panel will review and recommend updates to the state’s health standards. Education Commissioner Mike Morath, with the help of health experts, recommended the standards cover issues such as contraception, bullying and sexual harassment.

The appointees are expected to meet this year and recommend changes to the health curriculum that board members are likely vote on in 2020. Four of the appointees, including Love, form a majority of members on the panel who have ties to Christian advocacy groups or are activists for conservative causes, says The Texas Freedom Network, a nonprofit watchdog group that works to counter the religious right in Texas.

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“With all of our state’s world-class medical and public health institutions, it’s inconceivable that board members couldn’t find better qualified, less politically divisive individuals for this so-called ‘expert’ panel,” said Kathy Miller, president of the network.

Each appointee was nominated by two members of the State Board of Education. Nominees must have a bachelor’s degree, have a demonstrated expertise in health and have either taught or worked in the field. Each will receive a $2,000 stipend and be reimbursed for travel expenses. The expert group will also advise a panel of teachers that is also reviewing the health standards.

The Texas Freedom Network also took issue with appointee Feyi Obamehinti, a former math and science teacher and past Republican candidate for the State Board of Education. The group said it is concerned with her appointment because she never taught health and said during her campaign that she supported the failed 2017 bathroom bill, would have required transgender people to use the bathroom that aligns with the sex on their birth certificates.

Obamehinti has two generalist certifications as a classroom teacher and another as a principal. She lost her bid for the Republican nomination for a seat on the State Board of Education in 2018. Months later she was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to the Texas Diabetes Council where she continues to serve. Obamehinti said her drive to reshape the education standards will focus on improving health outcomes given the high childhood obesity rates in Texas.

She called criticism of her support for the bathroom bill “a smoke screen.”

“I supported the bathroom bill because that is my faith and the administration of the gospel of Jesus Christ,” she said. “It doesn’t matter whether you lean to the left or right, diabetes kills everyone … Do we want solutions that are good for all? Because good health is good for you no matter who you are.”

Other appointees to the review committee include Dr. Jack Lesch, a physician in The Woodlands who serves on the board of the Medical Institute for Sexual Health; and Dawn Riley, the director of mentoring at Hope Choice, an Amarillo crisis pregnancy center. Neither responded to requests for comment.

The State Board of Education also appointed Flip Flippen, a best selling author of a self-help book and founder of the Flippen Group that provides educator training; Dr. Myiesha Taylor, a practicing physician and chief medical officer at Indoc Solutions; and Hazem Kanaan, owner of All Women Medical Clinic focused on obstetrics, gynecology and obesity medicine.

Texas health standards were written in 1998 and left untouched for more than 20 years. Health is not a required course in high school, although many schools teach it. State law requires sex education focus more on abstinence from sexual activity than on any other behavior.