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Dawson’s mother Kathy, an agnostic who supports sex education, signed the permission slip for Emily to attend CALM’s sexual education classes. She was shocked when Emily texted her to say the “sex ed” class was being taught by an anti-abortion activist, from the American-based Pregnancy Care Centre.

The group provides free abstinence education to about 60 Edmonton-area junior highs and high schools each year, most in the Edmonton Public district.

“She did a lot of slut-shaming to the women, and pointed out the guys as horn-dogs,” Emily says. “She really ridiculed single-parent families, she made it sound like they all give birth to juvenile delinquents.”

One classmate, Emily claims, asked about same-sex relationships.

“All those questions were shut down right way. She just said, ‘We’re not here to discuss that.’”

Kathy asked to have her daughter excused from the next lecture. She claims she was told there was no way her child could skip the class without academic penalty. So she insisted on sitting in the next class to hear the lecture for herself. Kathy says there was no mention of God or Jesus but, she alleges, all the arguments in favour of chastity until marriage or against divorce and abortion were deeply rooted in Christian doctrine.

The Dawsons’ complaints allege the presenter taught students that 60 per cent of boys carry the HPV sexually transmitted infection under their fingernails, that gonorrhea can kill you in three days, that girls should dress modestly to avoid inflaming boys. The allegations have not been proven.