SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah lawmakers on Monday afternoon will dive into a debate about the role of parents when it comes to teaching their kids about sex and sex abuse.

Legislators on a House education committee plan to debate one proposal that would allow parents to opt-in their children to more comprehensive sex education in school.

The plan from Democratic Rep. Brian King of Salt Lake City would offer more instruction on contraceptive methods and emergency contraception, instead of Utah's current abstinence-based instruction.

Current Utah law requires teachers to focus on abstinence, but districts are allowed to offer instruction about contraception and preventing STDs. Four school districts — Canyons, Jordan, Nebo and Provo — are abstinence only, while all others are abstinence-based. All sex education programs first require a parent to consent for their child to receive the instruction.

King's bill would allow schools to offer instruction about the potential health benefits and side effects of different contraceptives and include discussions about how to respond to sexual or physical violence and how alcohol and drug use can impair making decisions.

The same committee rejected a similar version of King's proposal last year, saying anything beyond the abstinence-focused instruction should be taught by parents at home.

King has said more comprehensive sex education is needed because sexually transmitted disease rates have been rising quickly in the state.

The Monday afternoon committee set to discuss King's legislation will also debate whether to change public schools' sex abuse prevention education so that parents would have to give permission before their child gets the training. The program is part of the curriculum now, but parents can pull their kids out if they don't want them to participate.

Backers say the proposal, from Republican Rep. Keven Stratton of Orem, would let parents be more involved in that instruction.

The lessons for children in kindergarten through sixth grade include instruction on differentiating appropriate and inappropriate adult behavior, how to say no or ask an adult to stop something that makes them uncomfortable and how to report inappropriate behavior to someone the child trusts.

The law currently requires that schools notify parents in advance of the instruction and their right to have their children excused.

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