Kansas lawmakers pass new treatment of STIs despite GOP concerns of ‘sexual promiscuity’

Kansas could become one of the last states to permit doctors to treat partners of those with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) without an examination under a bill passed by the Kansas House Tuesday.

The measure, approved 71-49, would make Kansas the 42nd state to permit what is called expedited partner therapy. Kansas does not explicitly outlaw the practice currently, but would follow 41 other states with language specifically allowing it.

It now goes to the Senate.

Passage came after pushback from conservative lawmakers who raised concerns about language in the bill and “sexual promiscuity.”

“This legislation does not stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. On the contrary, it promotes sexual promiscuity with little care for personal responsibility,” said Rep. Trevor Jacobs, a Fort Scott Republican. “We’d drastically reduce or eliminate sexual diseases if we the people returned to the moral absolutes God has given us to live by.”

The bill was introduced as a way of addressing steadily increasing chlamydia rates in the state. Phil Griffin, deputy director of the state’s Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, told lawmakers at a committee hearing that states where the practice is legal have seen declines in infection rates without any adverse effects.

While the bill allows for expedited treatments of all STIs, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment would only use it to treat chlamydia, Griffin said, based on CDC recommendations. Individuals are often reinfected with chlamydia — easily treated with antibiotics — when a partner is also infected but was not treated. It more commonly presents symptoms in women and, if untreated, can cause infertility and other health problems.

“This bill … especially helps those who are potentially in the age to have a child and one of the benefits of treating chlamydia early is it protects maternal health and protects the disease from being passed on to a child,” Rep. Brett Parker, D-Lenexa, told colleagues during a debate on the bill Monday.

Concerns about the bill were first raised by members of the House Health and Human Services Committee, who said it provided for no limit on how many sexual partners can receive medication without an examination.

During debate Monday, Rep. Ronald Ellis, a Meriden Republican, said that expedited treatment could be a way of covering up child sex abuse or sex trafficking, as a perpetrator could identify a victim as a partner to cover up an STI.

“A step dad could get meds for his 13-year-old daughter. A sex trafficker could get meds for his own crew,” he said. “This bill has good intentions, but I see there’s a few loose ends.”

But Republican Rep. Ron Eplee, an Atchison-based family physician, said legalizing the practice would actually improve healthcare providers’ ability to identify abuse.

“What this bill does is it actually allows us more access to learn that information and find out about those issues as opposed to not knowing anything at this time under the status quo,” he said.

The committee amended the bill to require an individual to be at least 16-years-old to consent to receiving treatment.

The CDC identifies expedited partner therapy as a “useful option” to address the spread of chlamydia or gonorrhea, particularly in male partners who are less likely to show symptoms. This would stop the male partner from infecting other female partners, who are at risk formore severe effects from the diseases.

This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 3:15 PM.